Borrowing Arrangements - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended
Apr. 30, 2017	May 01, 2016
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Additional percentage over reference rate	2.00%
Interest rate description	Interest on unreimbursed amounts under the letter of credit facilities accrues at the lender's prime rate (or, if greater, the average rate on overnight federal funds plus one-half of one percent) plus 2.0%.
Amount of borrowings under credit facility during period	$ 45,000,000	$ 100,000,000
Maximum borrowing capacity under letter of credit facilities including additional borrowing capacity	$ 70,000,000
Letter of credit facilities, maturity date	Aug. 26, 2017
Outstanding letter of credit facilities	$ 6,831,000
Latest expiration date possible for future letters of credit	Jan. 23, 2018
Standby Letters of Credit
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Amount issued but undrawn under credit facility	$ 12,120,000
Federal Funds
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Additional percentage over reference rate	0.50%
Unsecured Revolving Line Of Credit
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Current borrowing capacity	$ 500,000,000
Maximum borrowing capacity including additional borrowing capacity	$ 750,000,000
Credit facility, maturity date	Nov. 19, 2019
Interest rate description	We may elect interest rates calculated at (i) Bank of America's prime rate (or, if greater, the average rate on overnight federal funds plus one-half of one percent, or a rate based on LIBOR plus one percent) plus a margin based on our leverage ratio or (ii) LIBOR plus a margin based on our leverage ratio.
Weighted average interest rate	2.01%	1.45%
Unsecured Revolving Line Of Credit \| Maximum
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Additional borrowing capacity	$ 250,000,000
Unsecured Revolving Line Of Credit \| Federal Funds
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Additional percentage over reference rate	0.50%
Unsecured Revolving Line Of Credit \| Libor
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Additional percentage over reference rate	1.00%

Percentage points added to the reference rate to compute the variable rate on the debt instrument.

No definition available.

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentBasisSpreadOnVariableRate1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The total amount of the contingent obligation under letters of credit outstanding as of the reporting date.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LettersOfCreditOutstandingAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of current borrowing capacity under the credit facility considering any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed (for example, borrowings may be limited by the amount of current assets), but without considering any amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19(b),22(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityCurrentBorrowingCapacity
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Date the credit facility terminates, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityExpirationDate1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Description of the interest rate for the amounts borrowed under the credit facility, including the terms and the method for determining the interest rate (for example, fixed or variable, LIBOR plus a percentage, increasing rate, timing of interest rate resets, remarketing provisions).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityInterestRateDescription
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Maximum amount borrowed under the credit facility at any time during the period.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityMaximumAmountOutstandingDuringPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Maximum borrowing capacity under the credit facility without consideration of any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed or the amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityMaximumBorrowingCapacity
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Weighted average interest rate of short-term debt outstanding.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShortTermDebtWeightedAverageInterestRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Reflects when the letter of credit facilities terminates, which may be presented in a variety of ways (year, month and year, day, month and year, quarter).

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	wsm_LetterOfCreditFacilitiesMaturityDate
Namespace Prefix:	wsm_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Maximum borrowing capacity under the letter of credit facilities without consideration of any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed or the amounts currently outstanding under the facilities.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	wsm_LetterOfCreditFacilitiesMaximumBorrowingCapacity
Namespace Prefix:	wsm_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Expiration date for future letters of credit issued under the letter of credit facilities.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	wsm_LineOfCreditExpirationDateForFutureCreditFacilities
Namespace Prefix:	wsm_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Additional borrowing capacity that may be requested upon notice to the lenders.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	wsm_LineOfCreditFacilityAdditionalBorrowingCapacity
Namespace Prefix:	wsm_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount available to be drawn upon by standby letter of credit beneficiaries under the credit facility as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	wsm_LineOfCreditFacilityAmountIssuedButUndrawn
Namespace Prefix:	wsm_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_CreditFacilityAxis=us-gaap_StandbyLettersOfCreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VariableRateAxis=wsm_FederalFundsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=wsm_UnsecuredRevolvingLineOfCreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VariableRateAxis=wsm_LiborMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: