Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2015

Consolidation, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Consolidated Financial Statements

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for interim financial statements and are in the form prescribed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. The information included in this report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014. The accompanying consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments, considered necessary for a fair presentation of the Company’s financial results. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of results for any other interim period or for a full fiscal year. The Company reports its results of operations on a fiscal year ending September 30.

The Holding Company was incorporated in Delaware on April 9, 2012. The accompanying consolidated financial statements include all the accounts of the Holding Company’s wholly owned subsidiaries, Vitamin Cottage Natural Food Markets, Inc. (the Operating Company), Vitamin Cottage Two Ltd. Liability Company and Natural Systems, LLC. The Operating Company formed the Holding Company in order to facilitate the purchase of the remaining noncontrolling interest in Boulder Vitamin Cottage Group, LLC and the consummation of the Company’s initial public offering (IPO) during fiscal year 2012. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

The Company has one reporting segment, natural and organic retail stores. Sales from the Company’s natural and organic retail stores are derived from sales of the following products, which are presented as a percentage of sales for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014 as follows:

	Three months ended June 30 ,					Nine months ended June 30 ,
	201 5			201 4		201 5		201 4
Grocery		66.9	%		67.3		66.5		66.7
Dietary supplements		22.1			22.7		22.5		23.3
Other		11.0			10.0		11.0		10.0
		100.0	%		100.0		100.0		100.0

Business Combinations Policy [Policy Text Block]

Business Combination

Business combinations are accounted for using the acquisition method of accounting, which requires that the purchase price paid for an acquisition be allocated to the assets and liabilities acquired based on their estimated fair values as of the effective date of the acquisition, with the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of net assets acquired being reported as goodwill. Acquisition-related costs are considered separate transactions and are expensed as incurred.

Use of Estimates, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities (including the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination), the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Management reviews its estimates on an ongoing basis, including those related to allowances for self-insurance reserves, valuation of inventories, useful lives of property and equipment for depreciation and amortization, deferred tax liabilities, valuation allowances for deferred tax assets and litigation based on currently available information. Changes in facts and circumstances may result in revised estimates and actual results could differ from those estimates.

New Accounting Pronouncements, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers.” ASU No 2014-09 provides guidance for revenue recognition and will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in GAAP when it becomes effective. The standard’s core principle is that a company will recognize revenue when it transfers promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the company expects to be entitled for the transfer of those goods or services. The standard permits the use of either the retrospective or cumulative effect transition method.

In July 2015, the FASB approved the deferral of the ASU, by extending the new revenue recognition standard’s mandatory effective date by one year. The ASU permits public organizations to apply the new revenue standard to annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. The Company has not yet selected a transition method and is currently in the process of evaluating the impact of the adoption of this ASU on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.