ACQUISITION (Pro Forma Financial Information) (Details) - USD ($)		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
		Feb. 28, 2019	Feb. 28, 2018	Feb. 28, 2019	Feb. 28, 2018
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Pro forma net income attributable to noncontrolling interest		$ 53,000		$ 86,000
Pro Forma [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Pro forma total revenues			$ 850,629,000		$ 1,627,004,000
Pro forma net income attributable to PriceSmart, Inc.	[1]		10,900,000		30,018,000
Pro forma net income attributable to noncontrolling interest			231,000		292,000
Post-combination compensation expense			$ 720,000		1,500,000
Remaining purchase price contingency					$ 3,800,000

[1] Includes the pro forma recognition of $720,000 and $1.5 million post-combination compensation expense, which represents three and six months of continued service amortization required to satisfy the $3.8 million remaining purchase price contingency