Organization - Additional Information (Detail) Person in Millions		6 Months Ended
	May. 02, 2015 Store	Oct. 31, 2015 Person Store	Feb. 26, 2015
Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Line Items]
Number of students covered to build relationships and derive sales | Person		5
Percentage of student population reach by stores	24.00%
Number of stores	724	743
Number of stores closed		9
Number of stores opened		28
Barnes and Noble, Inc [Member]
Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Line Items]
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage			100.00%