Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended										3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Feb. 02, 2013 Segment	Jan. 28, 2012	Jan. 29, 2011	Jan. 30, 2010	Feb. 02, 2013 Software	Feb. 02, 2013 Leasehold Improvements	Feb. 02, 2013 Minimum	Feb. 02, 2013 Maximum	Feb. 02, 2013 fourth quarter of fiscal 2012	Feb. 02, 2013 Stores	Jan. 28, 2012 Stores	Jan. 29, 2011 Stores	Jan. 28, 2012 Restructuring Charges	Jan. 29, 2011 Restructuring Charges	Apr. 30, 2010 Selling, General and Administrative Expense	Feb. 02, 2013 Auction rate securities	Jan. 28, 2012 Auction rate securities	Feb. 02, 2013 Financial Institutions	Jan. 28, 2012 Financial Institutions	Feb. 02, 2013 Sycamore Partners Management, L.L.C Subsequent Event
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Company incorporated date	1988
Company incorporated place	California
Number of reportable segment	1
Date of agreement and plan of merger																				Mar. 06, 2013
Cash due from third party financial institutions	$ 43,833,000	$ 49,615,000	$ 51,316,000	$ 117,764,000														$ 3,800,000	$ 2,900,000
Cash and cash equivalents maturity description	We consider all highly liquid investments with maturities of less than three months when purchased to be cash equivalents. All credit and debit card transactions that process in less than seven days are classified as cash and cash equivalents.
Short term investment in municipal bonds	6,200,000	16,500,000
Auction rate securities maturity period																25 years
Auction rate securities interest rate reset duration																Interest rate is reset through an auction process, most commonly at intervals of approximately 4 weeks.
Auction rate securities, fair value	1,700,000	1,700,000
Decline from par value	(400,000)
Auction rate securities, par value	(200,000)
Unrealized gain (loss) on short-term and long-term investments																	100,000
Unrealized gain (loss) on short-term and long-term investments, net of tax	7,000	24,000	121,000														100,000
Recovery in fair value previously temporarily impaired																	149,000
Decrease in fair value of auction rate securities																	(52,000)
Capitalized internal use software, amortization	1,200,000	1,500,000	1,800,000
Capitalized internal use software, net	3,300,000	2,500,000
Property, plant and equipment, useful life					3 years		3 years	20 years
Finite lived intangible asset amortization term						Leasehold improvements are amortized using the straight-line method over the shorter of the respective lease terms or the 10 year estimated useful life of the assets
Valuation of long-lived assets, estimated discount rate	13.00%
Impairment charges	519,000	2,658,000	6,054,000							500,000	2,400,000	3,100,000	900,000	1,200,000	3,000,000
Net merchandise returns	25,200,000	24,300,000	23,600,000
Revenue recognition, gift cards, breakage	1,602,000	853,000	1,100,000
Estimated gift card breakage percent							5.00%	6.00%
Net sale benefit due to change in liability for estimated unredeemed gift cards									800,000
Sales allowances, goods	6,000,000	8,300,000	8,500,000
Vendor allowance account for as a reduction of cost of goods sold	6,000,000	8,300,000	8,500,000
Advertising expenses	$ 7,800,000	$ 7,400,000	$ 8,500,000
Minimum percentage of tax positions expected to be realized	50.00%