Yes -- that would be nice if the author of template 241 could share some insight.
...

I was able to get the 'shopping cart status' to display in the right-column by editing in the 'configuration : layout settings' to 'always'. Not sure WHY this box appears but the others do NOT.??

So there appears to be some sort of relationship between the 'configuration : layout settings' and the 'tools : layout boxes controller'. However, I don't see any references on the layout settings list to the other boxes [ "best sellers" or "featured" or "order history"] that I've indicated to display on the right column so I'm NOT seeing a pattern to this relationship. ???

It seems to me that if you have the 'Column Right Status - Global' set to "1" [on] then even if you don't assign any 'sideboxes' to the right column, the column space should still be reserved. ie; the center column should NOT take up the right-column space.

I'm noticing that in the 'layout settings' options description for the Column Right Status feature it says "1= Column Right is on, unless page override" -- how do I know if there is a 'page override' ?