Long-term Debt, Revolving Credit Facility (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2013	Jan. 31, 2012	Oct. 31, 2012	Oct. 31, 2012 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Forbearance Agreement A [Member]	Oct. 31, 2012 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Forbearance Agreement B [Member]	Oct. 31, 2012 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Forbearance Agreement C [Member]	Oct. 31, 2012 Revolving Credit Facility [Member] Restated Credit Agreement [Member]	Oct. 31, 2012 Bullet Loan A [Member]	Jan. 31, 2013 Marshall T. Reynolds [Member]	Jan. 31, 2012 Marshall T. Reynolds [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Debt Default, Description and Actions Taken				The Company received a notice of default on December 12, 2011, which was reported pursuant to item 2.04 of Form 8-K filed December 15, 2011. This notice of default advised that the Administrative Agent had not waived the event of default and reserves all rights and remedies thereof. These remedies include, under the Credit Agreement, the right to accelerate and declare due and immediately payable the principal and accrued interest on all loans outstanding under the Credit Agreement. The notice of default further stated that any extension of additional credit under the Credit Agreement would be made by the lenders in their sole discretion without any intention to waive any event of default. On December 28, 2011, the Administrative Agent, the Lenders, the Company, all of its subsidiaries and Marshall T. Reynolds entered into a Limited Forbearance Agreement and Third Amendment to Credit Agreement (the "Limited Forbearance Agreement") which provides, among other things, that during a forbearance period commencing on December 28, 2011, and ending on April 30, 2012 (unless terminated sooner by default of the Company under the Limited Forbearance Agreement or Credit Agreement), the Lenders were willing to temporarily forbear exercising certain rights and remedies available to them, including acceleration of the obligations or enforcement of any of the liens provided for in the Credit Agreement. The Company acknowledged in the Limited Forbearance Agreement that as a result of the existing defaults, the Lenders are entitled to decline to provide further credit to the Company, to terminate their loan commitments, to accelerate the outstanding loans, and to enforce their liens. The Limited Forbearance Agreement provided that during the forbearance period, so long as the Company meets the conditions of the Limited Forbearance Agreement, it may continue to request credit under the revolving credit line. The Limited Forbearance Agreement required the Company to: (a) engage a chief restructuring advisor to assist in developing a written restructuring plan for the Company's business operations; (b) submit a restructuring plan to the Administrative Agent by February 15, 2012; (c) provide any consultant retained by the Administrative Agent with access to the operations, records and employees of the Company; (d) attain revised minimum EBITDA covenant targets; and (e) provide additional financial reports to the Administrative Agent. The Limited Forbearance Agreement provided that the credit commitment under the Credit Agreement is $15,000,000 and provided for a $1,450,000 reserve against the Credit Agreement borrowing base. The Company had borrowed under its $15.0 million line of credit approximately $9.7 million at December 28, 2011, which encompassed working capital requirements, refinancing of existing indebtedness prior to The Herald-Dispatch acquisition and to partially fund the purchase of The Herald-Dispatch. On December 28, 2011, pursuant to the terms of the Limited Forbearance Agreement, a draw of $2.0 million was made on the cash collateral and $2.0 million was funded in the form of the subordinated unsecured promissory note. The Company received a notice of default and reservation of rights letter on May 2, 2012, which was reported pursuant to Item 2.04 of Form 8-K filed May 4, 2012. In a Current Report on Form 8-K filed May 4, 2012, Champion Industries, Inc. ("Champion") advised that on May 2, 2012, Fifth Third Bank, as Administrative Agent (the "Administrative Agent") for lenders under Champion's Credit Agreement dated September 14, 2007, as amended (the "Credit Agreement") had sent Champion a Notice of Default and Reservation of Rights ("Notice of Default"), advising that Champion's default under provisions of the Credit Agreement requiring it to maintain certain financial ratios constituted an Event of Default under the Credit Agreement. The default related to Sections 6.20(a) and 6.20(b) of the Credit Agreement. The Notice of Default also advised that the Administrative Agent had not waived the Event of Default and reserved all rights and remedies as a result thereof. Those remedies include, under the Credit Agreement, the right to accelerate and declare due and immediately payable the principal and accrued interest on all loans outstanding under the Credit Agreement. The Notice of Default further stated that any extension of additional credit under the Credit Agreement would be made by the lenders in their sole discretion without any intention to waive any Event of Default.	On July 31, 2012, the Administrative Agent, the Lenders, Champion, all its subsidiaries and Marshall T. Reynolds entered into a First Amended and Restated Limited Forbearance Agreement and Fourth Amendment to Credit Agreement dated July 13, 2012 (the "Forbearance Agreement") which provides, among other things, that during a forbearance period commencing on July 13, 2012 and ending on August 15, 2012 (unless sooner terminated by default of Champion under the Forbearance Agreement or the Credit Agreement), the Required Lenders are willing to temporarily forbear exercising certain rights and remedies available to them, including acceleration of the obligations or enforcement of any of the liens provided for in the Credit Agreement. Champion acknowledged in the Forbearance Agreement that as a result of the existing defaults, the Lenders are entitled to decline to provide further credit to Champion, to terminate their loan commitments, to accelerate the outstanding loans, and to enforce their liens. The Forbearance Agreement provided that during the forbearance period, so long as Champion meets the conditions of the Forbearance Agreement, it may continue to request credit under the revolving credit line. The Forbearance Agreement required Champion to: ●continue to engage a chief restructuring advisor to assist in developing a written restructuring plan for Champion's business operations; ●submit an updated proposed restructuring plan to the Administrative Agent by July 16, 2012; ●provide any consultant retained by the Administrative Agent with access to the operations, records and employees of Champion and their advisors; ●attain revised minimum EBITDA covenant targets; ●provide additional financial reports to the Administrative Agent; ●make a good faith effort to effectuate certain transaction initiatives identified by the Company; ●permit Administrative Agent to retain a media transaction expert and allow access to Company personnel and advisors; and ●forbearance fee of 0.25%. The Forbearance Agreement provided that the credit commitment under the Credit Agreement is $13,600,000 and provides for a $1,450,000 reserve against the Credit Agreement borrowing base. The applicable margin had been increased to 6.0% if utilizing the base rate or 4% if utilizing the amended base rate as well as a PIK compounding Forbearance Fee of 2% of the outstanding amount of term loans. The default rate is an additional 2% for outstanding term loans. On August 20, 2012 the Company received a Notice of Forbearance Termination, Additional Defaults and Reservation of Rights ("Notice of Default") letter from the Administrative Agent for its secured lenders which was reported pursuant to Item 2.04 of Form 8-K filed August 21, 2012. This Notice of Default resulted from the expiration of the Forbearance Agreement on August 15, 2012. The Company references to minimum excess availability and other credit availability related to the Forbearance Agreement are not applicable after July 31, 2012 through the effective date of the September Forbearance Agreement due to the expiration of the Forbearance Agreement. The Company had been notified that any extension of additional credit would be made by the Lenders in their sole discretion without any intention to waive any Event of Default. The Lenders had continued to provide the Company with access to the applicable revolving credit facilities during this default period.	On September 12, 2012, the Company entered into a Second Amendment to the Limited Forbearance Agreement and Fifth Amendment to Credit Agreement ("September Forbearance Agreement") which extended the maturity of the credit facility through October 15, 2012. The September Forbearance Agreement provided that during the forbearance period, so long as the Company met the conditions of the September Forbearance Agreement, it may continue to request credit under the revolving credit line. The September Forbearance Agreement required the Company to/or changed as follows:● pay a 0.10% extension fee based on the then-outstanding loans, interests in Letters of Credit and Unused Revolving Credit Commitments; ● continue services of bank group consultant as well as continued retention of Company advisors; ● release and term debt pay down of remaining $500,000 under the provisions of the Contribution Agreement hereinafter described; ● continue actions to effectuate certain transactions, including the financing of certain receivables and finalizing the Safeguard transaction; ● agree to terms on a debt restructuring by September 15, 2012 subject to credit approval and documentation; ● minimum EBITDA covenant for August 2012 of $400,000;● aggregate revolving credit commitments of $13,000,000.	On October 19, 2012, the Company, the Administrative Agent and other lenders all party to the Company's Credit Agreement dated September 14, 2007 (as previously supplemented and amended, the "Original Credit Agreement") entered into a First Amended and Restated Credit Agreement ("Restated Credit Agreement") dated October 19, 2012 and Side Letter Agreement dated October 19, 2012. The Company reviewed the applicable requirements associated with debt modifications and restructurings to determine the applicable accounting for the Company's Restated Credit Agreement. The Company determined that modification accounting was appropriate based on the facts and circumstances of the Company's analysis as applied to applicable GAAP. A primary determining factor was the imputed effective interest rate of the Company's debt being substantially higher after the modification than was present prior to the modification. This was a key determining factor in assessing whether the Company's secured lender's had granted a concession. The Restated Credit Agreement and Side Letter Agreement amended various provisions of the Original Credit Agreement and added various provisions as further described herein, including but not limited to the following provisions of the Restated Credit Agreement: ·Restated Credit Agreement maturity at June 30, 2013, subject to Champion's compliance with terms of the Restated Credit Agreement and Side Letter Agreement. ·$0.001 per share warrants issued for up to 30% (on a post-exercise basis) of the outstanding common stock of the Company in the form of non-voting Class B common stock and associated Investor Rights Agreement for the benefits of the Lenders, subject to shareholder approval. The Company has various milestone dates, which may reduce the number of warrants outstanding upon satisfaction of certain conditions. The Company is working with its outside advisors regarding these items but is unable to predict the outcomes or likelihood of success regarding the achievement of such milestones. The warrants expire after October 19, 2017. ·Various Targeted Transactions which may require the sale of various assets, divisions or segments upon the achievement of agreed upon value benchmarks among other considerations and if not successfully completed by the applicable milestone dates will be considered an event of default. ·Existing debt restructured into a $20,000,000 Term Loan A, $6,277,743.89 Term Loan B, $4,000,000 Bullet Loan and $9,025,496.00 Revolver Loan. ·A $10,000,000 revolving credit facility with a sublimit of up to $3,000,000 for swing loans. Outstanding borrowings thereunder may not exceed the sum of (1) up to 85% of eligible receivables (reduced to 80% of eligible receivables effective December 30, 2012) plus (2) up to the lesser of $5,000,000 or 50% of eligible inventory. ·Targeted interest rates as follows based on a LIBOR borrowing option; Term Note A at LIBOR plus 8%, Term Note B at 0% (subject to a deferred fee of 16% per annum with various milestone dates reducing or forgiving such fees upon successful completion of such milestones.), revolving loans at LIBOR plus 6% and Bullet Loans A at a rate of LIBOR plus 8%. ·At Champion's option, interest at a LIBOR Rate plus the applicable margin. ·Post default increase in interest rates of 2%. ·Amendment of various covenants as further described in the Restated Credit Agreement. ·Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio is required to be 1.0 to 1.0 as of January 31, 2013 and 1.10 to 1.0 as of April 30, 2013 based on a buildup model commencing October 1, 2012. ·Leverage Ratio is required to be 3.30 to 1.00 as of January 31, 2013 and 3.10 to 1.00 as of April 30, 2013 based on a trailing twelve month EBITDA calculation. ·Minimum EBITDA pursuant to a monthly build up commencing with the month ended October 31, 2012 of $600,000 increasing to $1,100,000 for November 30, 2012, $1,600,000 at December 31, 2012, $2,600,000 at January 31, 2013, $3,350,000 at February 28, 2013, $4,100,000 at March 31, 2013, $5,200,000 at April 30, 2013, $5,550,000 at May 31, 2013 and $5,900,000 at June 30, 2013. ·Maximum Capital expenditures are limited to $1,000,000 for fiscal years commencing after October 31, 2012. ·Enhanced reporting by Champion to Administrative Agent.·Continued retention of a Chief Restructuring Advisor and Raymond James & Associates, Inc. as well as continued retention by Secured Lenders of their advisor. ·$100,000 fee due at closing plus monthly Administrative Agent fees of $15,000 monthly through June 30, 2013.
Wall Street Journal prime rate (in hundredths)									3.25%	3.25%
Percentage of excess cash flow by which credit facility is required to be repaid (in hundredths)	75.00%
Principal payment on term debt	$ 1,832,508	$ 1,424,194						$ 650,000
Accrued expenses	150,000		129,000
Amortization of deferred financing costs	614,226	110,005
Purchases restated as cash activities which were previously reported as non-cash activities	$ 37,000