Business Spotlight: Filling in the gaps: the story behind the Occasional Wife
By Cara Pridemore
The Occasional Wife (2007) is a unique consignment, liquidation and organizational company with six locations in three states. There are three stores in New Orleans, Louisiana, one in Mandeville, Louisiana, one in Perdido Key, Florida, and one in Pass Christian. Along with its onsite antique store, the Occasional Wife offers a variety of services.
“We organize people, we right-size people where we get them ready to sell their big houses and move into their retirement communities, we design and install closets,” Kay Morrison, the founder of the Occasional Wife, said. “We pack people, move people, unpack people. I have a whole moving company called the ‘Occasional Husbands.’ We do onsite estate sales… We’re continuing to thrive because we have continued to grow.”
For fourteen years, Morrison worked as a global salesperson for a hotel company, spending most of her time on airplanes.
“My kids had passports when they were six months old,” she said. “I took them everywhere with me.”
Because of their frequent travel, Morrison’s husband joked that they needed an “occasional wife” to take care of their extra needs at home during the busyness of her job.
“What I needed was someone that was a little more than a housekeeper, but not as much as an interior decorator,” Morrison said.
Early one morning, as she drove to catch a flight to New York, Morrison realized she was missing out on her children’s lives, as they were starting kindergarten the next day.
“I flew to New York, and I quit my job, and I came back home,” she said.
After that, Morrison redirected her energy into building the Occasional Wife, a company that strives to help busy women fill in the gaps. Before companies such as DoorDash and Instacart existed, Morrison began delivering groceries and running small errands for clients. Her goal was simple: to empower women by offering them a flexible work-life balance.
Nearly twenty years later, her business has flowered into a versatile and regionally recognized organizational company, which still provides a flexible and balanced life for both clients and employees.
“I would babysit people’s kids when they were on the job,” she said. “It was all about just everyone helping everyone.”
Morrison attributes much of her early success to local press coverage.
“Facebook was just coming along, so the media, the print, and the stories people did on me really catapulted my business for me quickly,” she said. Her business continued to grow, and Morrison was named New Orleans CityBusiness magazine’s Innovator of the Year in 2007 and 2008.
When she opened her most recent store location in Pass Christian approximately a year ago, Morrison sought to create a unique service-oriented business for the community.
“Every store has its own little personality, and the Pass Christian one is in a 1901 double shotgun house,” Victor Lyn, the Pass Christian location’s store manager, said. “It’s got a lot of old-world charms, so I get a lot of the antiques and the beachy-type stuff and the bicycles and all the fun stuff that goes along with the beach.”
The store has a high turnover rate with new collectible houseware items constantly coming in.
“I have a motto with the head of consignment that, ‘If it’s weird, send it to us,’” Lyn said.
Every piece comes secondhand, meaning it is reasonably priced and economically sustainable.
“Many mothers come in, and they’re looking for things for their daughters or their sons’ houses, for the next generation’s homes, and it’s rewarding in that respect,” Lyn said.
The Pass Christian community has fully embraced the Occasional Wife, with many loyal customers regularly investigating the store’s ever-changing inventory. Morrison’s vision of helping families live a more balanced life remains central to the business.
“I love seeing successful women become more successful, especially when they’re using our services, and we can take so much off their plate,” she said.
