SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Details 3) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 29, 2012 item	Dec. 31, 2011	Jan. 01, 2011
Intangible Assets
Goodwill impairment charge			$ 9,100,000
Self Insurance
Increase in employee health and welfare claims		499,000
Gift Cards, Gift Certificates and Credits
Percentage of Merchandise Credits issued which will remain unredeemed	5.00%
Percentage of Gift Cards issued which will remain unredeemed	3.00%
Period for recognition of unredeemed Merchandise Credits and Gift Cards	3 years 6 months
Percentage of unredeemed Gift Cards and Merchandise Credits to be recognized in the first quarter subsequent to the issue date	64.00%
Percentage of unredeemed Gift Cards and Merchandise Credits to be recognized in the fourteenth quarter subsequent to the issue date	0.03%
Redemption rate of Gift Cards and Merchandise Credits in the fourteenth quarter subsequent to issue date, as a percent	0.00%
Breakage income	275,000	642,000	196,000
Revenue Recognition
Amount received in connection with activated credit cards	363,000	745,000	780,000
Fee income in connection with activated credit cards	1,159,000	904,000	678,000
Number of reward points awarded for each dollar spent at Cache	5
Number of reward points awarded for each dollar spent at non-Cache businesses	1
Value of a Cache gift card which eligible cardholders will receive upon accrual of 2,500 reward points	25
Number of accrued reward points to receive gift card	2,500
Sales royalty income	452,000	425,000	373,000
Advertising costs
Advertising costs	5,700,000	6,600,000	8,200,000
Cache 401(K) Savings Plan
Eligibility period of employment to participate in the Company's 401(k) plan	1 year
Eligibility age of employees to participate in the Company's 401(k) plan	21 years
Minimum number of annual hours worked by employees to participate in the Company's 401(k) plan	1,000
Maximum percentage of gross pay that employees can defer	25.00%
Employer contributions to the plan	118,000	104,000	32,000
Stock-Based Compensation
Stock-based compensation	322,000	381,000	461,000
Sales Return Reserve
Revenue Recognition
Charges to earnings resulting from revisions to estimates on company's sales return provision	34,000		77,000
Credits to earnings resulting from revisions to estimates on company's sales return provision		$ (96,000)