Stop & Compare

Stop & Compare is a family-owned neighborhood supermarket in Chelsea that has served the Latino and ethnic communities of Greater Boston since 1996. It stocks fresh meats cut to order, specialty fruits and vegetables, and authentic ingredients for recipes that remind shoppers of home, as well as flavors for those trying them for the first time. The store’s name, Compare, has the same meaning and spelling in English and Spanish.

The business grew out of Al and Betty Calvo’s work in fresh ethnic wholesale, which the Cuban immigrants began in South Boston in the early 1980s before moving to Chelsea and opening a retail store in 1996. In 2005 their daughter Vivian Iannotti and her husband Marc opened a second store in Lynn. Today the second generation runs daily operations, with more than 80 employees from over 10 Spanish-speaking countries.

What to Know

• The family business has been recognized as one of the best family businesses of the year in Massachusetts.
• The store has been featured in The Chelsea Record and in an English for New Bostonians video.
• Its website shares recipes from countries including Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.