Leases (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Aug. 02, 2013 Store	Aug. 03, 2012	Jul. 29, 2011	Jul. 31, 2009 Store	Jul. 31, 2009 Owned Stores [Member]	Jul. 28, 2000 Owned Stores [Member] Store	Jul. 31, 2009 Retail Distribution Center [Member]
Leases [Abstract]
Number of leased facilities for stores	212
Minimum Lease Payments	$ 70,095	$ 67,651	$ 65,878
Contingent Lease Payments	232	276	179
Total Lease Payments	70,327	67,927	66,057
Future minimum rental payments, operating leases [Abstract]
2014	59,075
2015	47,030
2016	42,316
2017	40,324
2018	40,716
Later years	536,983
Total	$ 766,444
Sale Leaseback Transaction [Line Items]
Number of owned stores involved in sale-lease back transaction				15		65
Initial lease terms of stores (in years)					20 years	21 years
Initial lease terms of retail distribution (in years)							15 years
Lease renewal option (in years)					20 years	20 years	20 years