Condensed Consolidated Income Statements Of Income and Comprehensive Income (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
May 02, 2015	May 03, 2014
Revenues
Retail sales	$ 281,575us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet	$ 282,462us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet
Other Revenue (principally finance charges, late fees and layaway charges)	2,324cato_IncomeOther	2,270cato_IncomeOther
Total revenues	283,899us-gaap_Revenues	284,732us-gaap_Revenues
COSTS AND EXPENSES, NET
Cost of goods sold (exclusive of depreciation shown below)	162,520us-gaap_CostOfGoodsSold	164,363us-gaap_CostOfGoodsSold
Selling, general and administrative (exclusive of depreciation shown below)	68,584	67,487
Depreciation	5,374us-gaap_DepreciationAndAmortization	5,452us-gaap_DepreciationAndAmortization
Interest and other income	568us-gaap_NonoperatingGainsLosses	742us-gaap_NonoperatingGainsLosses
Cost and expenses, net	235,910us-gaap_CostsAndExpenses	236,560us-gaap_CostsAndExpenses
Income before income taxes	47,989	48,172
Income tax expense	16,906us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	18,166us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Net income	31,083us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss	30,006us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss
Basic earnings per share	$ 1.11us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic	$ 1.04us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic
Diluted earnings per share	$ 1.11us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted	$ 1.04us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted
Dividends per share	$ 0.30	$ 0.30
Comprehensive income
Net income	31,083us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss	30,006us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net of deferred income taxes	(332)	(51)
Comprehensive Income	$ 30,751us-gaap_ComprehensiveIncomeNetOfTax	$ 29,955us-gaap_ComprehensiveIncomeNetOfTax

Represents other income to include finance charges, late fees and layaway charges.

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Total costs related to goods produced and sold during the reporting period.

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Amount of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

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