v2.4.0.6

Segment Reporting | 9 Months Ended
--- | ---
Oct. 27, 2012
Segment Reporting Disclosure [Abstract] |
Segment Reporting | Segment Reporting Staples has three reportable segments: North American Delivery, North American Retail and International Operations. Staples’ North American Delivery segment consists of the U.S. and Canadian businesses that sell and deliver office products and services directly to consumers and businesses and includes Staples Advantage, Staples.com and Quill.com. The North American Retail segment consists of the U.S. and Canadian businesses that operate stores that sell office products and services. The International Operations segment consists of businesses in 23 countries in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia that operate stores and that sell and deliver office products and services directly to consumers and businesses. As discussed in Note E - Discontinued Operations, the Company has classified PSD, which was formerly part of the International Operations segment, as a discontinued operation. Accordingly, the segments measures for International Operations have been recast to exclude PSD for all periods presented. Staples evaluates performance and allocates resources based on profit or loss from operations before goodwill and long-lived asset impairment charges, restructuring charges, stock-based compensation, interest and other expense, other non-recurring items and the impact of changes in accounting principles (“business unit income”). Intersegment sales and transfers are recorded at Staples’ cost; therefore, there is no intercompany profit or loss recognized on these transactions. Staples’ North American Delivery and North American Retail segments are managed separately because the way they market products is different, the classes of customers they service may be different and the distribution methods used to deliver products to customers are different. The International Operations are considered a separate reportable segment because of the significant differences in the operating environment from the North American operations. The following is a summary of sales and business unit income by reportable segment and a reconciliation of business unit income to consolidated income before income taxes for the third quarter and year-to-date 2012 and 2011 (in thousands):
| 13 Weeks Ended |  | 39 Weeks Ended
| October 27, 2012 |  | October 29, 2011 |  | October 27, 2012 |  | October 29, 2011
| Sales
North American Delivery | $ | 2,609,034 |  |  | $ | 2,582,729 |  |  | $ | 7,576,860 |  |  | $ | 7,527,592 |
North American Retail | 2,646,554 |  |  | 2,656,612 |  |  | 6,959,524 |  |  | 7,029,840 |
International Operations | 1,097,552 |  |  | 1,241,682 |  |  | 3,276,146 |  |  | 3,733,014 |
Total segment sales | $ | 6,353,140 |  |  | $ | 6,481,023 |  |  | $ | 17,812,530 |  |  | $ | 18,290,446 |
| Business Unit Income (Loss)
North American Delivery | $ | 227,736 |  |  | $ | 244,997 |  |  | $ | 614,462 |  |  | $ | 646,612 |
North American Retail | 285,477 |  |  | 284,204 |  |  | 540,846 |  |  | 564,425 |
International Operations | (1,692 | ) |  | 35,641 |  |  | (27,114 | ) |  | 70,985 |
Business unit income | 511,521 |  |  | 564,842 |  |  | 1,128,194 |  |  | 1,282,022 |
Stock-based compensation | (27,276 | ) |  | (35,602 | ) |  | (90,406 | ) |  | (117,072 | )
Impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets | (810,996 | ) |  | — |  |  | (810,996 | ) |  | — |
Restructuring charges | (30,396 | ) |  | — |  |  | (30,396 | ) |  | — |
Interest and other expense, net | (40,882 | ) |  | (42,808 | ) |  | (123,413 | ) |  | (129,988 | )
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income taxes | $ | (398,029 | ) |  | $ | 486,432 |  |  | $ | 72,983 |  |  | $ | 1,034,962 |
The following table shows our assets by reportable segment (in thousands):
|  | October 27, 2012 |  | January 28, 2012
Assets: |  |  |  |
North American Delivery |  | $ | 4,611,883 |  |  | $ | 4,725,434 |
North American Retail |  | 3,139,352 |  |  | 3,313,281 |
International Operations |  | 4,214,801 |  |  | 5,391,907 |
Total segment assets |  | $ | 11,966,036 |  |  | $ | 13,430,622 |
Current assets of discontinued operations |  | 185,949 |  |  | — |
Total consolidated assets |  | $ | 12,151,985 |  |  | $ | 13,430,622 |

X
- Details
Name: | spls_SegmentReportingDisclosureAbstract
Namespace Prefix: | spls_
Data Type: | xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

X
- Definition The entire disclosure for reporting segments including data and tables. Reportable segments include those that meet any of the following quantitative thresholds a) it's reported revenue, including sales to external customers and intersegment sales or transfers is 10 percent or more of the combined revenue, internal and external, of all operating segments b) the absolute amount of its reported profit or loss is 10 percent or more of the greater, in absolute amount of 1) the combined reported profit of all operating segments that did not report a loss or 2) the combined reported loss of all operating segments that did report a loss c) its assets are 10 percent or more of the combined assets of all operating segments. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 29 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8864-108599 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 30 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8906-108599 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 32 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8933-108599 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 35 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8984-108599 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8380-108599 Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 10 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8538-108599 Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 42 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e9054-108599 Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 12 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8595-108599 Reference 9: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 131 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 10: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 34 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8981-108599 Reference 11: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 33 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8971-108599 Reference 12: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 26 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8844-108599 Reference 13: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 31 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8924-108599 Reference 14: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 40 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e9031-108599 Reference 15: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 41 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e9038-108599 + Details
Name: | us-gaap_SegmentReportingDisclosureTextBlock
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration