In a continuing effort to cut costs, Sears, Roebuck & Company said yesterday that it was spending $60 million for 28,000 computerized cash registers.

One day last week, Mr. Marzano stood at the J&B food counter, a long bar with 18 computerized cash registers.

J. C. Penney buys its computerized cash registers and personal computers from NCR, and relies mostly on A.T.& T.'s long-distance network to link them.

NCR is best known for its midsized computers, used to process volumes of transactions, and for computerized cash registers and automatic teller machines.

"Heck, in those days, we didn't even have computerized cash registers," Elso said.

I.B.M. does not break out the size of its personal computer sales precisely as part of its personal systems group, which includes computerized cash registers and hand-held computers used in retailing.

Since late 1990, almost all of the older stores have been renovated, equipped with fully automated systems, introducing computerized and automatic cash registers.

These include sales clerks trained to spot potential shoplifters, computerized cash registers that keep close track of inventory, television monitors and merchandise displayed in ways that make theft more difficult, she said.

'Short on Dr. Mario' Moreover, Toys "R" Us stocks what are certifiably the hottest toys, as shown by computerized cash registers that track shoppers' buying trends.

Then, based on instant sales data from computerized cash registers, factories adjust production.