Direct Expenses of Credit Segment in SGA - (Details) - ReportableSegmentsMemberCredit [Member] - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Aug. 03, 2019	Aug. 04, 2018	Aug. 03, 2019	Aug. 04, 2018
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Labor and Related Expense	$ 164	$ 195	$ 314	$ 392
Postage Expense	117	128	241	251
Other Expenses	129	191	372	189
Total Credit Expenses	$ 410	$ 514	$ 927	$ 832

No definition available.

Name:	cato_TotalCreditExpenses
Namespace Prefix:	cato_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of expense for salary, wage, profit sharing; incentive and equity-based compensation; and other employee benefit.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03(b)(4))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=115205541&loc=SL114868664-224227

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LaborAndRelatedExpense
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of expense classified as other.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.4,6)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=115205541&loc=SL114868664-224227

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 220
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.7-04.7)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=114873790&loc=SL114874131-224263

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OtherExpenses
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of expense associated with postage.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 220
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-04.14)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=114873765&loc=SL114874048-224260

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PostageExpense
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=cato_ReportablesegmentsmembercreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: