Name: Big Peach Running Co.'s Mike Cosentino | It’s Not the Bricks, It’s the Mortar
Start: 2025-10-29T19:00:00-04:00
Location: Manuel's Tavern

$Big Peach Running Co.'s Mike Cosentino | It\u2019s Not the Bricks, It\u2019s the Mortar$

Retail is under siege. The disruption is unrelenting.
A Cappella Books is delighted to welcome award-winning retailer and entrepreneur Mike Cosentino to Manuel’s Tavern to discuss his new book, “It’s Not the Bricks, It’s the Mortar: Optimize Your Retail Business for Lasting Success.”
This event is free and open to the public. Copies of “It’s Not the Bricks, It’s the Mortar” will be available for purchase.
About the Book
Brick-and-mortar retail is amid unprecedented challenges: mass store closures, the continued rise of online marketplaces, economic shocks, and continued fallout from the global pandemic. Equally distressing is the difficulty retailers face to secure customer loyalty through either online or in-venue purchases. Successful retail entrepreneur and business mentor, Mike Cosentino, knows these are times when leaders are greatly tempted to personally take (or take back) commanding control of their businesses.
“It’s Not the Bricks, It’s the Mortar” explains why this reaction would be a mistake. Drawing from personal crises and candid assessment of his initial approach to leadership, Cosentino now argues that a service-based business performs best when its team is expected, equipped and empowered to operate without ever-heavy involvement from the leader at the top. For sustained success, organizations must now:
Embrace Uninvolved Optimization and Involved Maximization—two frameworks that shift how leadership drives performance.
Implement powerful retail-related tools: Experience by Committee, The Service Quotient and The Immutable Laws of Resource Acquisition.
Build a culture where teams feel ownership of both customer-facing moments and critical backend operations.
Highly respected by Sporting Goods industry professionals, Cosentino delivers his content in a friendly, story-driven style. This book is a field guide for leaders looking to create sustainable systems, unlock their team’s full potential, and ensure their capabilities to grow. Anywhere service and performance matter most, it’s the mortar - the enduring skills, adaptable systems, and empowered teams - that truly hold the bricks together.
About the Author
Mike Cosentino is an award-winning retailer and entrepreneur. He has founded multiple businesses, including Big Peach Running Co. and Big Peach Ride + Run, which are among the largest Specialty Sporting Goods operators in North America. His keynotes and consulting have assisted retail operations of every size and theme, as he himself continues to lead and learn in his own retail enterprises. He lives with his family on a farm north of Atlanta GA.