Leases (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Aug. 03, 2012	Jul. 29, 2011	Jul. 30, 2010	Jul. 31, 2009 Owned Stores [Member]	Jul. 28, 2000 Owned Stores [Member]	Jul. 31, 2009 Retail Distribution Center [Member]
Leases [Abstract]
Number of leased facilities for stores	208
Minimum Lease Payments	$ 67,651	$ 65,878	$ 65,351
Contingent Lease Payments	276	179	519
Total Lease Payments	67,927	66,057	65,870
Future minimum rental payments, operating leases [Abstract]
2013	58,537
2014	47,501
2015	41,928
2016	39,655
2017	40,077
Later years	570,220
Total	$ 797,918
Sale Leaseback Transaction [Line Items]
Number of owned stores involved in sale-lease back transaction				15	65
Initial lease terms of stores (in years)				20 years	21 years
Initial lease terms of retail distribution (in years)						15 years
Lease renewal option (in years)				20 years	20 years	20 years