this solution doesn't follow the zen cart conventions yet, but it should do.

go to includes/modules/category_row.php

find the two lines on the outside of the #############(about line 34)

paste the code below in place:

// strip out 0_ from top level cats
$cPath_new = str_replace('=0_', '=', $cPath_new);

// ##################################################################
$myCatID = substr($cPath_new, -3);
// $categories->fields['products_name'] = zen_get_products_name($categories->fields['products_id']);

$check_categories = $db->Execute("select products_id from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " where
master_categories_id = '".$myCatID."'");
if ($check_categories->RecordCount() > 0) {
// create number here
$recordCount = $check_categories->RecordCount();
}

$countContent = CATEGORIES_COUNT_PREFIX . $recordCount . CATEGORIES_COUNT_SUFFIX;


$list_box_contents[$row][$col] = array('params' => 'class="categoryListBoxContents"' . ' ' . 'style="width:' . $col_width . '%;"',
'text' => '<a href="' . zen_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, $cPath_new) . '">' . zen_image(DIR_WS_IMAGES . $categories->fields['categories_image'], $categories->fields['categories_name'], SUBCATEGORY_IMAGE_WIDTH, SUBCATEGORY_IMAGE_HEIGHT) . '<br />' . $categories->fields['categories_name'].' '.$countContent.'</a>');
// ##################################################################
$col ++;

- beware of how I created $myCatID ->this will only work if your category IDs are 3 digits long. - I'll fix this up in future
- you can see this in action at http://www.digitechstop.com