Best. Retail. News. Lead. Ever.

Forget Charles Dickens. For America's retailers, it's looking more like a Charles Darwin Christmas.

The Journal's Miguel Bustillo and Ann Zimmerman go on to detail the dismal sales that retailers nationwide expect this holiday shopping season. Such low expectations spring from September sales reports: Sales at stores open at least a year dropped 12 percent annually at J.C. Penney and Dillard's, and 9.6 percent at Nordstrom. The nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, saw annual sales growth in September of just 2.4 percent, below expectations.

Chilly.