Tesco's unusually stealthy US expansion strategy is about to take it to Las Vegas, one of the fastest growing cities in the US, in addition to its previously reported plans to open stores in the Los Angeles and Phoenix areas next year.

The US expansion comes as the UK's biggest supermarket chain, which already takes £1 in every £8 spent on the British high street, powers ahead in its home market. Verdict Research, the retail analysts, predict it will become Britain's biggest non-food retailer by the end of the year, overtaking Argos Retail Group.