Business and Current Conditions - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended				1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended													1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Feb. 02, 2013 Segment Store State		Jan. 28, 2012		Jan. 29, 2011		Jan. 30, 2010	Feb. 02, 2013 Restricted Stock		Jan. 28, 2012 Restricted Stock		Jan. 29, 2011 Restricted Stock		Feb. 02, 2013 Senior Secured Term Loans	May 31, 2012 Senior Secured Term Loans	Feb. 02, 2013 2006 Management Incentive Plan	Feb. 02, 2013 2006 Management Incentive Plan Restricted Stock	Feb. 02, 2013 Advertising Barter Transactions	Jan. 28, 2012 Advertising Barter Transactions	Jan. 29, 2011 Advertising Barter Transactions	Apr. 13, 2006 Common Class A	Feb. 02, 2013 Common Class A	Jan. 28, 2012 Common Class A	Apr. 13, 2006 Common Class A 2006 Management Incentive Plan	Apr. 13, 2006 Common Class L	Feb. 02, 2013 Common Class L	Jan. 28, 2012 Common Class L	Apr. 13, 2006 Common Class L 2006 Management Incentive Plan	Feb. 02, 2013 Software and Software Development Costs Minimum	Feb. 02, 2013 Software and Software Development Costs Maximum	Feb. 02, 2013 Building Minimum	Feb. 02, 2013 Building Maximum	Feb. 02, 2013 Store Fixtures and Equipment Minimum	Feb. 02, 2013 Store Fixtures and Equipment Maximum	Feb. 02, 2013 Advertising Expense	Jan. 28, 2012 Advertising Expense	Jan. 29, 2011 Advertising Expense	Feb. 02, 2013 Distribution and Purchasing Functions	Jan. 28, 2012 Distribution and Purchasing Functions	Jan. 29, 2011 Distribution and Purchasing Functions	May 31, 2012 Term Loan Facility BasisPoint	May 31, 2012 Term B-1 Loans	Feb. 02, 2013 Burlington Coat Factory Store	Feb. 02, 2013 Cohoes Fashions Store	Feb. 02, 2013 Super Baby Depot Store	Feb. 02, 2013 MJM Designer Shoes Store	Feb. 02, 2013 Burlington Shoes Store
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of stores	500																																										482	2	2	13	1
Number of states stores operated	44
Number of stores																																											23		1		1
Long-Term Debt, face amount														$ 1,000,000,000	$ 1,000,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, basis points																																									0.0050
Line of Credit Facility, Outstanding																																										950,500,000
Repayments on Long Term Debt	205,749,000		42,500,000		87,202,000																																					119,300,000
Ownership interest in stock of BCFWC	100.00%
Common Stock, Issued	1,000		1,000
Common stock, outstanding	1,000		1,000																			46,651,554	45,942,093			5,183,506	5,104,677
Common stock, authorized	1,000		1,000																			51,674,204				5,769,356
Common stock, par value	$ 0.01		$ 0.01																			$ 0.001				$ 0.001
Cash and short-term, highly liquid investments, maturities period	3 months
Selling and Administrative Expenses	1,316,857,000		1,215,301,000		1,156,613,000																																	114,300,000	84,600,000	74,100,000
Depreciation and Amortization	166,786,000		153,070,000		146,759,000																																	12,800,000	8,900,000	9,600,000
Assets Held for Disposal	191,000		521,000
Property and equipment, Useful Lives																															20 years	40 years	3 years	10 years
Capitalized software	19,800,000		23,000,000
Purchased and internally developed software, estimated economic life																													3 years	5 years
Impairment charges	6,300,000		100,000
Impairment Charges - Long-Lived Assets	5,200,000		1,200,000		2,000,000
Impairment charges	0		400,000		100,000
Customer liabilities	30,000,000		29,700,000
Deferred lease incentives	138,100,000		129,400,000
Reimbursements of expenses	3,700,000		2,700,000		1,900,000																														400,000	600,000	400,000
Advertising expense	83,500,000		77,600,000		70,400,000													3,776,000	4,712,000	2,644,000
Barter transactions, sales			13,900,000
Barter transactions, cost of sales			13,900,000
Barter transactions, unused advertising credits	13,104,000		16,880,000															13,100,000
Barter transactions, unused advertising credits period																		7 years
Breakage income	2,500,000		4,100,000		2,700,000
Number of units reserved under plans	730,478															730,478						6,574,302				730,478
Number of stock in each unit																					9			9	1			1
Options outstanding	424,231		472,673		489,499		478,500									424,231
Awards Outstanding																	5,000
Common shares outstanding																5,178,506
Non-Cash Stock Compensation	$ 2,747,000	[1]	$ 5,797,000	[1]	$ 2,230,000	[1]		$ 487,000	[1],[2]	$ 1,187,000	[1],[2]	$ 852,000	[1],[2]
Reports segment	1

[1] Included in the line item "Selling and Administrative Expense" in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss).

[2] Results in expense net of tax of $0.3 million, $0.7 million and $0.5 million during Fiscal 2012, Fiscal 2011 and Fiscal 2010, respectively.