Marketing

New York -- Costco Wholesale Corp. has opened its first store in continental Europe, a 140,000-sq.-ft. location in Seville, Spain.

Costco will follow it up with a store in Madrid, according to media reports.

More than 1,200 leaders from the toy and baby products industries gathered at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York to celebrate the 2014 Toys “R” Us Children’s Fund Gala.

Blyth — a direct-to-consumer company and leading designer and marketer of candles and accessories for the home, as well as health, wellness and beauty products sold through the direct selling and direct marketing channels — has promoted Jane Casey to the role of CFO.

The company this week announced that VP, CFO Robert H. Barghaus plans to retire later this year after 13 years. Barghaus will remain active as the company's CFO until Casey, an 18-year veteran with the company, assumes the role.

Same store sales and operating profits declined at Sam’s Club during the first quarter prompting president and CEO Rosalind Brewer to call the reporting period, “one of our more difficult quarters.”

Dallas – A previously undisclosed conflict of interest may endanger the proposed $1.4 billion purchase of jewelry retailer Zale Corp. by rival Signet Jewelers. According to the New York Times, Bank of America, which represented Zale in talks with Signet, failed to disclose it had made an unsolicited presentation to Signet in October 2013 where it advised Signet to consider purchasing Zale.

San Jose, Calif. – EBay Inc. is reportedly targeting customers in 19 Latin American countries with tailored Spanish- and Portuguese-language e-commerce sites. According to Bloomberg, the sites will conduct transactions in local currencies and serve customers in countries including Mexico and Brazil.

Phoenix -- PetSmart has partnered with the City of Detroit and the non-profit community organization Detroit Dog Park to open a portable, pop-up dog park to a vacant lot in Detroit.

Outdoor apparel, equipment and footwear supplier The North Face has made key leadership and organizational changes to its sales agency partnerships.