Reconciliation of Operating Income (Loss) from Reportable Segments (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Apr. 27, 2019	Apr. 28, 2018	Apr. 29, 2017
Segment Reporting, Reconciling Item for Operating Profit (Loss) from Segment to Consolidated [Line Items]
Reportable segments operating income (loss)	$ 16,529	$ (127,858)	$ 54,308
Interest expense, net and amortization of deferred financing costs	(13,447)	(9,837)	(7,509)
Consolidated income (loss) before taxes	$ 3,082	$ (137,695)	$ 46,799

Interest expense, net and amortization of deferred financing fees

No definition available.

Name:	bks_InterestExpenseNetAndAmortizationOfDeferredFinancingFees
Namespace Prefix:	bks_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of income (loss) from continuing operations before deduction of income tax expense (benefit) and income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interest, and addition of income (loss) from equity method investments.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 235
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(h)(1)(i))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesMinorityInterestAndIncomeLossFromEquityMethodInvestments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The net result for the period of deducting operating expenses from operating revenues.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
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

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