Stop and Compare Featured on SBA Success Stories

Posted on Oct 22, 2012

Stop and Compare was just featured on the SBA homepage under “Success Stories”.

We have included the full article below as well as a link to the article as it appears on the SBA website.

From the SBA:

At first glance, Stop and Compare Supermarket appears to be more than a grocery store; it is a community center where its team of owners and operators work day and night to meet and serve their customers. Customers of varied ethnicities come to this shop because of its warm sense of community and because they can find goods they consumed in their native countries right here in this their new home. Stop and Compare Supermarkets is a family owned and operated neighborhood supermarket chain formed in 1996 with the purpose of serving the growing Latino and ethnic population in the Boston metropolitan area and other New England communities. The founders being immigrants themselves have made their mission to provide “Diverse Food for Diverse Communities.”

Alberto Calvo, one of the company’s founders and its current president, is an engineer by training and joined the family business on a full-time basis in 2011. Stop and Compare Supermarkets is owned and operated by three families – the Calvo, Iannotti and Dominguez families. The founders Tomas and Carmen Dominguez along with Betty Calvo have over 35 years of combined management experience in the food industry, working the wholesale side since 1970 and entering the retail side in the mid-1990s. Mr. Calvo is currently focused on developing the business by prospecting new store locations, marketing existing locations, strengthening management processes and controls, as well as training the staff.

Since the company’s humble beginning in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Stop and Compare has expanded into new communities and ventured into new states. The company now has more than 120 full-time and part-time employees, and has opened additional stores in Lynn, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. With the help of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s emerging e-200 development program, Mr. Calvo has been able to receive formal training and expert advice on topics relevant to his business, such as human resources, financial management, marketing, access to capital and strategic planning.

Giving back to the community is a passion and a privilege for Mr. Calvo, who spends countless hours attending board meetings and gathering community members to discuss access to nutritious food, civic engagement, and education. In addition to his time, Mr. Calvo makes generous donations to support organizations like Social Capital, Inc., which strengthen communities by connecting diverse individuals and organizations through civic engagement initiatives.

This passion of Alberto Calvo and his team continues to be the engine for growth of Stop and Compare Supermarkets. Their focus and vision for the Greater Boston and New England area serves to provide a clear direction for the company. With a strong model, its history of success, and the growing Latino communities across New England, Stop and Compare will continue to go far.

http://www.sba.gov/about-offices-content/2/3162/success-stories/333481