Stop & Compare has long been more than a place to pick up groceries in Chelsea. At 157 Hawthorne Street, the family-owned supermarket serves customers looking for fresh foods, familiar ingredients, and products tied to Latin American and other cultural traditions.

The store’s current customer-facing location page lists the Chelsea supermarket at 157 Hawthorne Street, with hours of Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. For shoppers, the address note matters: another company page still lists the Chelsea store at 153 Hawthorne Street, but the dedicated store-location page currently presents 157 Hawthorne Street as the customer-facing address.

The family story behind Stop & Compare begins with Al and Betty Calvo, immigrants from Cuba who entered the fresh ethnic-food wholesale business in the early 1980s. According to the company’s history, their earlier ventures included BCD Tropical in South Boston and New England Ethnic Products in Chelsea. In 1996, the family opened its retail operation in Chelsea with a purpose: serving Latino and ethnic communities across Greater Boston and New England.

That focus still shapes the business. Stop & Compare describes its mission as “connecting culture and community” through authentic offerings and fresh quality products. For many shoppers, that means finding ingredients that connect back to family recipes, home countries, and everyday meals that can be hard to recreate from a standard supermarket aisle.

The business is now in its second generation. Vivian Iannotti, daughter of Al and Betty Calvo, and her husband Marc Iannotti entered the family business in 2005. The company says the Iannottis now run day-to-day operations while continuing to rely on the founding generation’s guidance.

Outside sources help show the broader role Stop & Compare has played. A 2014 El Planeta feature described the store’s appeal to Latino shoppers who value Spanish-language service and products that remind them of home. A 2021 Conservation Law Foundation announcement described Stop & Compare as a Latinx, family-owned and operated supermarket with locations in Chelsea and Lynn, and quoted Vivian Iannotti describing the company’s mission around authentic, fresh quality products.

That mission fits Chelsea’s community landscape. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts lists Chelsea as 67.3 percent Hispanic or Latino and reports that 46.1 percent of residents were foreign-born from 2020 to 2024. It also reports that 70.6 percent of residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home. In a city shaped by immigrant families and multilingual households, Stop & Compare’s shelves tell a local story: food as memory, culture, business, and connection.

For Chelsea readers, Stop & Compare remains a multigenerational small-business story rooted in Cuban immigrant entrepreneurship, family leadership, and a simple but powerful idea — that a neighborhood supermarket can help people feel closer to home.