Basis of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Oct. 28, 2012

Basis of Presentation [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

(1)           Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited financial statements of ALCO Stores, Inc. (the "Company") are for interim periods and have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements.  The accompanying unaudited financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements included in the Company's fiscal 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K. In the opinion of management of the Company, the accompanying unaudited financial statements reflect all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) necessary to present fairly the financial position of the Company and the results of its operations and cash flows for the interim periods. Because the Company's business is moderately seasonal, the results from interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the entire year.

Fiscal 2013 is a 53-week period consisting of three thirteen week periods and one fourteen week period with each period referred to as a quarter.  During Fiscal 2013, the fourteen week period will occur in the fourth quarter.  Fiscal 2012 was a 52-week period consisting of four thirteen week periods.  The thirteen weeks ended October 28, 2012 and October 30, 2011 are referred to herein as the third quarter of fiscal 2013 and 2012, respectively.

The depreciation and amortization amounts from the Statements of Operations may not agree to the related amounts in the Statements of Cash Flows due to the fact that a portion of the depreciation and amortization is included in earnings (loss) from discontinued operations, net of income tax expense (benefit) line of the Statements of Operations.