Litigation and legal proceedings	9 Months Ended
Oct. 29, 2011
Litigation and legal proceedings [Abstract]
Legal Matters and Contingencies [Text Block]	7. Litigation and legal proceedings On July 15, 2009, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (the “District Court”) granted the class plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in a consumer class action commenced in January 2006, which was consolidated with an action brought by two Internet retailers that was commenced in December 2005. Both actions allege that Babies “R” Us agreed with certain baby product manufacturers (collectively, with the Company, the “Defendants”) to impose, maintain and/or enforce minimum price agreements in violation of antitrust laws. In addition, in December 2009, a third Internet retailer filed a similar action and another consumer class action was commenced making similar allegations involving most of the same Defendants. In January 2011, the parties in the consumer class actions referenced above entered into a settlement agreement, which has been preliminarily approved by the District Court. As part of the settlement, in March 2011, the Company made a payment of approximately $17 million towards the overall settlement. In addition, in January 2011, the plaintiffs, the Company and certain other Defendants in the Internet retailer actions referenced above entered into a settlement agreement pursuant to which the Company made a payment of approximately $5 million towards the overall settlement. In addition, on or about November 23, 2010, the Company entered into a Stipulation with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) ending the FTC’s investigation related to the Company’s compliance with a 1998 FTC Final Order and settling all claims in full. Pursuant to the settlement, in May 2011, the Company paid approximately $1 million as a civil penalty. In addition to the litigation discussed above, we are, and in the future, may be involved in various other lawsuits, claims and proceedings incident to the ordinary course of business. The results of litigation are inherently unpredictable. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, require significant amounts of management time and result in diversion of significant resources. We are not able to estimate an aggregate, estimated amount or range of reasonably possible losses for those legal matters for which losses are not probable and estimable, primarily for the following reasons: (i) many of the relevant legal proceedings are in preliminary stages, and until such proceedings develop further, there is often uncertainty regarding the relevant facts and circumstances at issue and potential liability; and (ii) many of these proceedings involve matters of which the outcomes are inherently difficult to predict. However, based upon our historical experience with similar matters, we do not expect that any such additional losses would be material to our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

7. Litigation and legal proceedings

On July 15, 2009, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (the “District Court”) granted the class plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in a consumer class action commenced in January 2006, which was consolidated with an action brought by two Internet retailers that was commenced in December 2005. Both actions allege that Babies “R” Us agreed with certain baby product manufacturers (collectively, with the Company, the “Defendants”) to impose, maintain and/or enforce minimum price agreements in violation of antitrust laws. In addition, in December 2009, a third Internet retailer filed a similar action and another consumer class action was commenced making similar allegations involving most of the same Defendants. In January 2011, the parties in the consumer class actions referenced above entered into a settlement agreement, which has been preliminarily approved by the District Court. As part of the settlement, in March 2011, the Company made a payment of approximately $17 million towards the overall settlement. In addition, in January 2011, the plaintiffs, the Company and certain other Defendants in the Internet retailer actions referenced above entered into a settlement agreement pursuant to which the Company made a payment of approximately $5 million towards the overall settlement. In addition, on or about November 23, 2010, the Company entered into a Stipulation with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) ending the FTC’s investigation related to the Company’s compliance with a 1998 FTC Final Order and settling all claims in full. Pursuant to the settlement, in May 2011, the Company paid approximately $1 million as a civil penalty.

In addition to the litigation discussed above, we are, and in the future, may be involved in various other lawsuits, claims and proceedings incident to the ordinary course of business. The results of litigation are inherently unpredictable. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, require significant amounts of management time and result in diversion of significant resources. We are not able to estimate an aggregate, estimated amount or range of reasonably possible losses for those legal matters for which losses are not probable and estimable, primarily for the following reasons: (i) many of the relevant legal proceedings are in preliminary stages, and until such proceedings develop further, there is often uncertainty regarding the relevant facts and circumstances at issue and potential liability; and (ii) many of these proceedings involve matters of which the outcomes are inherently difficult to predict. However, based upon our historical experience with similar matters, we do not expect that any such additional losses would be material to our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.