Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Narrative) (Details)	12 Months Ended
	Feb. 01, 2020 USD ($) state segment stores store shares	Feb. 02, 2019 USD ($) shares	Feb. 03, 2018 USD ($) shares		Feb. 03, 2019 USD ($)	Feb. 04, 2018 USD ($)	Jan. 29, 2017 USD ($)
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of reportable segments | segment	1
Restricted investments		$ 400,000
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 1,351,205,000	1,412,912,000	$ 1,290,294,000
Packaway inventory, storage period, less than	6 months
Depreciation and amortization expense on property and equipment	$ 350,892,000	330,357,000	313,163,000	[1]
Capitalized interest	4,367,000	2,497,000	710,000
Asset impairment charges	0	0	0
Book cash overdrafts	138,800,000	83,200,000
Expected recovery of merchandise inventory	10,700,000	10,200,000
Refund due to customers	20,900,000	19,800,000
Allowance for sales return			9,900,000
Advertising costs	$ 74,000,000.0	$ 79,900,000	$ 76,400,000
Anti-dilutive weighted average shares excluded from EPS calculation (in shares) | shares	27,400	23,700	2,800
Operating lease liability	$ 3,175,009,000
Operating lease assets	3,053,782,000
Accounting Standards Update 2016-02
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Operating lease liability					$ 2,900,000,000
Operating lease assets					2,900,000,000
Cumulative effect of adoption of accounting standard					19,614,000
Accounting Standards Update 2016-02 | Retained earnings
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Cumulative effect of adoption of accounting standard					$ 19,614,000	$ 20,000,000
Accounting Standards Update 2016-09
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Cumulative effect of adoption of accounting standard							$ (676,000)
Tax benefits related to employee equity programs	13,300,000	$ 12,600,000	$ 16,300,000
Accounting Standards Update 2016-09 | Retained earnings
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Cumulative effect of adoption of accounting standard							$ 1,113,000
Property, Plant and Equipment
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment purchased but not yet paid	$ 40,300,000	$ 33,700,000	$ 24,300,000
Minimum | Equipment
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment estimated useful life, straight-line method	3 years
Minimum | Land Improvements and Buildings
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment estimated useful life, straight-line method	20 years
Minimum | Computer Software
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment estimated useful life, straight-line method	3 years
Maximum | Equipment
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment estimated useful life, straight-line method	12 years
Maximum | Land Improvements and Buildings
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment estimated useful life, straight-line method	40 years
Maximum | Computer Software
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment estimated useful life, straight-line method	7 years
Ross Dress For Less
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of stores | stores	1,546
Number of states company operates in | state	39
dd's Discounts
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of stores | store	259
Number of states company operates in | state	19

[1] As the result of the adoption of ASU 2016-18, Statement of Cash Flow (Topic 230): Restricted Cash, in fiscal 2018, the prior year amounts were retrospectively adjusted to include restricted cash and cash equivalents. See Note A.