Starbucks: Computer outage fixed; stores to reopen Saturday

SEATTLE -- Starbucks says a computer outage that affected registers at 8,000 company-operated stores in the United States and Canada has been resolved. The coffee chain said late Friday night that stores are expected to open for "business as usual" on Saturday.

The company said the outage affected 7,000 stores in the U.S. and 1,000 in Canada. It did not explain exactly what caused the outage, which began in the early evening on the East Coast and in the late afternoon on the West Coast.

The company offered free drinks to customers before saying stores that had not already closed for the evening Friday were closing early.

Starbucks apologized to customers for the inconvenience.