Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Details Textual)	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended										12 Months Ended									12 Months Ended					3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2010 USD ($)	Sep. 06, 2012	Jul. 31, 2012 Foreign Corporate Debt Securities [Member] EUR (€)	Jul. 31, 2012 Frank M. Jaehnert [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Thomas J Felmer [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Peter C Sephton [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Matthew O Williamson [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Robert L Tatterson [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Performance Based Options [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2011 Performance Based Options [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2010 Performance Based Options [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2010 Performance Based Options [Member] Frank M. Jaehnert [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 Service Based Options [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2011 Service Based Options [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2010 Service Based Options [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2008 Performance Based Restricted Shares [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 Performance Based Restricted Shares [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Maximum [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Minimum [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Grafo [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 Runelandhs [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 Pervaco [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2011 ID Warehouse [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Class A Nonvoting Common Stock [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 Class A Nonvoting Common Stock [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2011 Class A Nonvoting Common Stock [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2010 Class A Nonvoting Common Stock [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 Common Class A [Member]	Oct. 31, 2012 Common Class A [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 Class B common stock [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2011 Class B common stock [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2010 Class B common stock [Member] USD ($)
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Dividends																											$ 0.76	$ 0.74	$ 0.72	$ 0.70			$ 0.72	$ 0.70	$ 0.68
Dividend Payable																																$ 0.19
Percentage increase in dividends paid																															0.00%
Outstanding stock options and restricted shares of Class A Nonvoting Common Stock																												6,555,084
Future issuance of stock option and restricted shares																												5,005,850
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Increase in goodwill		$ 22,844,000	$ 4,792,000																				$ 1,227,000	$ 8,440,000	$ 13,177,000	$ 4,792,000
Current year divestitures		(495,000)	(12,076,000)
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives range																					33 years	3 years
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Share based compensation												1,200,000
Options exercisable with weighted average, shares		3,503,963	3,316,815	3,100,955			50,000	35,000	35,000	35,000	20,000
Performance Based Stock Options Granted												415,000			100,000	797,450			210,000
Weighted average exercise price												$ 29.55	$ 28.35	$ 29.78	$ 28.35	$ 27.05	$ 29.13	$ 28.68	$ 32.83
Performance based restricted shares outstanding																				310,000
Weighted-average fair value of options granted during the period												$ 10.01	$ 9.87	$ 8.70		$ 8.42	$ 9.59	$ 8.77
No of Years Extended Performance Based Stock Options												10 years				10 years
Derivative [Line Items]
Foreign denominated debt outstanding		10,650,000	50,000,000			75,000,000
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Textual) [Abstract]
Number of shares authorized for repurchase					2,000,000
Allowance For Doubtful Accounts Receivable Current		6,006,000	6,183,000
Percentage of maximum customer's shares in company's consolidated net sales		10.00%	10.00%	10.00%
Percentage of maximum customer's shares in company's consolidated accounts receivable		10.00%	10.00%	10.00%
Percentage of LIFO inventory		18.00%	16.00%
Increase in carrying value of inventory due to change in accounting method		9,271,000	9,168,000
Depreciation expense of leasehold improvements		27,656,000	28,997,000	31,560,000
Increase in goodwill due to acquisition and net effects of foreign currency translation		123,552,000	31,743,000
Impairment charge	115,688,000	115,688,000
Decrease in goodwill due to net effect of foreign currency translation		30,213,000	(39,027,000)
Amortization expense of intangible assets		16,331,000	19,830,000	21,462,000
Projected Future amortization expense, year one		14,323,000
Projected Future amortization expense, year two		6,962,000
Projected Future amortization expense, year three		6,145,000
Projected Future amortization expense, year four		5,957,000
Projected Future amortization expense, year five		2,859,000
Prepaid catalog costs included in prepaid expenses and other current assets		15,011,000	11,892,000
Sales reserve		3,046,000	4,491,000
Sales incentives		18,474,000	18,826,000	12,673,000
Advertising expense		74,852,000	79,326,000	72,000,000
Number of Years restricted shares grant			five-year period or a seven-year period
Total stock compensation expense		9,735,000	9,830,000	9,721,000
Total stock compensation expense, net of tax		5,939,000	5,996,000	5,930,000
Unrealized compensation cost related to share-based compensation, pre tax		13,827,000
Weighted average period remaining		1 year 9 months 18 days
Foreign Currency Contracts, Liability, Fair Value Disclosure			6,109,000
Foreign Currency Contracts, Asset, Fair Value Disclosure		953,000
Notional amount of outstanding foreign exchange contracts		61,200,000	80,800,000
Unrealized losses on foreign currency cash flow hedges expected to be reclassified to earnings within the next twelve months		1,348,000	1,535,000
Net Investment hedges of the Company's investments		1,041,000	4,589,000
Unrealized losses of hedge instruments		2,635,000	13,070,000
Foreign exchange risk exposure fair value		$ 78,000	$ 2,000
stock options exercise price grant period		3 years																										3 years
Stock options exercise price succeeding years		P2Y
Foreign currency maturity period		less than 18 months
Foreign currency maturity period		18 months