manageStore does have access to ColdFront sales volume and uses it. I think CFStat is where the code actually resides. I used sales volume because finding out how many are there in the mall was effectively impossible from ash. I also felt that, for the particular application, it didn't matter how many were in the mall because if things were selling then my stuff might eventually sell.
@Razorsoup - thanks for your interest. Feel free to suggest comments and enhancements in the script's thread. Converting it to SVN is on my ToDo list as well as a couple local tweaks that I have not published.