But out of the 185 stores within the $4bn chain, one of the best examples of where this mission has found success is at Canton, just south of Boston. In this community, well heeled business professionals park their gleaming stationwagons alongside less sophisticated modes of transport carrying diverse, but nevertheless high spending population groups.The average weekly customer purchase is $34, but it can be as high as $400 on Friday evenings. The 58,000 sq ft unit, in a distinctive, typically spacious shopping mall, serves a large local Jewish population plus a few thousand Russians among its local clientèle. Small wonder, then, that a tour of the Canton aisles throws up an international food and drink image rarely seen in supermarkets on this side of the Atlantic. It's also unusual in that the three senior staff, or associates, to use the US vernacular, are mainly female, and have been affectionately dubbed the "broad squad" in the Shaw's operation. As befits a chain which began life as a small teashop in Maine in the late 1850s, the store is also different in that it boasts the company's increasingly successful La Carte catering home delivery operation. Here, orders can range from a $4,000 dinner party to celebrate Thanksgiving to a sandwich delivery service to home or office. This is the Shaw's version of the expanding North American food to go principle, a service that, ironically, has received a boost since the dreadful events of September 11 as more Americans shun restaurants and eat at home. It is currently in seven units and is set to be expanded further across the chain. A Shop the World' food hall, incorporated in the main body of aisles, includes everything from comfort foods for ex-pat Brits to speciality items from Greece and the Far East. The store opens on weekdays from 6am to midnight and from 7am to 9pm on Sunday. Shaw's md Ross McLaren says Canton is "pretty close" to the formula the Sainsbury outpost yearns for on the US eastern seaboard. And he adds: "Now we have understood our formula, we are going to spruce up our portfolio." Turnover increases since the store's refurbishment are confirming his confidence. {{SPOTLIGHT }}