Investments (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	9 Months Ended
Oct. 29, 2016	Jan. 30, 2016
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Available-for-sale securities classified as noncurrent	$ 3,167	$ 7,450
Long-term investment, held-to-maturity securities	4,090	13,527
Accumulated comprehensive loss, cumulative unrealized losses on available for sale securities, net of tax	$ 178	331
Minimum [Member]
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Dutch auction, reset interval (days)	7 days
Maximum [Member]
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Dutch auction, reset interval (days)	49 days
Auction-rate securities [Member]
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Temporary impairment	$ 283	525
Accumulated comprehensive loss, cumulative unrealized losses on available for sale securities, net of tax	178
Available-for-sale securities, par value	3,450	7,975
Available-for-Sale Securities, Estimated Fair Value	3,167	$ 7,450
Par value of securities liquidated	$ 4,525
Auction-rate securities [Member] \| AA/Aa-rated [Member]
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Securities by credit rating (percent)	100.00%

The interval for a rate reset related to auction rate securities.

No definition available.

Name:	bke_AuctionRateSecuritiesRateResetInterval2
Namespace Prefix:	bke_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The cost of debt and equity securities as of the balance sheet date, which are categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading, net of adjustments including accretion, amortization, and collection of cash, but before other-than-temporary impairments recognized in earnings.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	bke_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAmortizedCostBeforeOtherThanTemporaryImpairment
Namespace Prefix:	bke_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The aggregate percentage of the par value of a specified portfolio that has a specified credit rating as of a point in time.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	bke_PercentageOfPortfolioByCreditRating
Namespace Prefix:	bke_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The aggregate par value of securities that were sold, redeemed or otherwise liquidated during the period.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	bke_SecuritiesRedeemedAtParValue
Namespace Prefix:	bke_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Accumulated appreciation or loss, net of tax, in value of the total of available-for-sale securities at the end of an accounting period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 14A
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66004124&loc=SL7669686-108580

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 11
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66004124&loc=d3e637-108580

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 14
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66004124&loc=d3e681-108580

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 10A
-Subparagraph (e)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66004124&loc=SL7669646-108580

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AccumulatedOtherComprehensiveIncomeLossAvailableForSaleSecuritiesAdjustmentNetOfTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of investment in debt and equity securities categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 25
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65884222&loc=d3e22054-111558

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-Subparagraph (aa)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=73527792&loc=d3e27232-111563

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66010992&loc=d3e26610-111562

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount before tax of unrealized loss in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) on investments in debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=73527792&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAccumulatedGrossUnrealizedLossBeforeTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Investments in debt and equity securities which are categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading and which are intended to be sold or mature more than one year from the balance sheet date or operating cycle, if longer. Such securities are reported at fair value; unrealized gains (losses) related to Available-for-sale Securities are excluded from earnings and reported in a separate component of shareholders' equity (other comprehensive income), unless the Available-for-sale security is designated as a hedge or is determined to have had an other than temporary decline in fair value below its amortized cost basis. All or a portion of the unrealized holding gain (loss) of an Available-for-sale security that is designated as being hedged in a fair value hedge is recognized in earnings during the period of the hedge, as are other than temporary declines in fair value below the cost basis for investments in equity securities and debt securities that an entity intends to sell or it is more likely than not that it will be required to sell before the recovery of its amortized cost basis. Other than temporary declines in fair value below the cost basis for debt securities categorized as Available-for-sale that an entity does not intend to sell and for which it is not more likely than not that the entity will be required to sell before the recovery of its amortized cost basis are bifurcated into credit losses and losses related to all other factors. Other than temporary declines in fair value below cost basis related to credit losses are recognized in earnings, and losses related to all other factors are recognized in other comprehensive income.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Available-for-Sale Securities
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6505594

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66010992&loc=d3e26626-111562

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesNoncurrent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount after other than temporary impairment (OTTI) accretion, of investments in debt securities classified as held-to-maturity, not expected to be converted to cash, sold or exchanged within one year or the normal operating cycle, if longer.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_HeldToMaturitySecuritiesNoncurrent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- 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

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MinimumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_InvestmentTypeAxis=us-gaap_AuctionRateSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	bke_CreditRatingAxis=bke_CreditRatingOneMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: