text: It was good while it lasted. Starbucks announced late Friday night that a computer outage that affected registers at 8,000 stores in the US and Canada, prompting baristas to give away free drinks, has now been resolved. The global coffeehouse chain said in an update on its site that stores are expected to open for 'business as usual' Saturday. The company said earlier the outage affected 7,000 stores in the US 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. Scroll down for video . No coffee here: A Starbucks store closes Friday in Phoenix because of computer issues. Starbucks says a sales register computer glitch has disrupted sales at company-operated stores in the US and Canada . It's free! A nationwide shutdown of Starbucks' computer system Friday evening prompted baristas to give away free coffee . Excited Twitter users spread the word about the giveaway, sharing photos of the free-of-charge drinks . Happy customer: User Joshua Decker praised the fine service at a Starbucks store in Redmond, Washington while posing with his free beverages . Store No. 1: There were plenty of satisfied customers at Starbucks' first-ever store in Seattle . The company offered free drinks and baked goods to customers before saying stores that had not already closed for the evening Friday were closing early. Earlier in the day, a young barrista named Jaleel working at a Starbucks coffeehouse on 8th Street in Manhattan told Daily Mail their system went down at around 7.30pm. The computer glitch prevented staff from accepting credit cards or ringing up sales, but Starbucks workers at the East Village location were still accepting cash. Some people who were standing in line at around 8.30pm had their wallets in hand. At one point, Jaleel walked up to a middle-age man waiting to get his coffee and let him know that their system was down and they were unable to take credit cards. In response, the customer flashed several folded banknotes. Starbucks released a statement on its website saying the company is aware of the point-of-sale register outage in the US and Canada. Greed is good: This giddy Starbucks patron took full advantage of Friday's one-of-a-kind giveaway . Get it while it's free: For some fans of the popular coffeehouse chain, the joy proved short-lived. According to Twitter users, many Starbucks locations around the country closed their doors so as not to give away free products during the shutdown . 'We are actively working to resolve the outage and our stores will remain open and continue to serve our customers,' the statement read. 'The outage was caused by a failure during a daily system refresh. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience or confusion and will update this statement once systems are back online. This outage also affects our Evolution Fresh and Teavana stores.' Twitter immediately lit up with messages from giddy Starbucks customers spreading the word about the impromptu coffee giveaway and sharing photos of their free-of-charge Frappuccinos, venti mochas and soy lattes. 'Got myself a breakfast sandwich & iced tea at #Starbucks for free just now to be fair, I did pay for a drink earlier this afternoon,' boasted user Karen Chu, from Los Angeles. Another LA resident by the moniker @octopuscandy bragged: 'Starbucks systems are down so I got my drink for free. Seems like all Starbucks are doing this. Be sure to tip the barista!' Twitter user iamgrant quipped: 'Who wants to go to Starbucks with me tonight? I'll buy.' But for some fans of the popular coffeehouse chain, the joy proved short-lived. Fans of the global coffeehouse chain expressed their gratitude for Friday's freebies on social media . Seattle TV reporter Alison Morrow took this photo of a throng of tourists swarming the Pike Place Starbucks location . According to reports from around the country, many Starbucks locations in places like Florida, Tennessee and Arizona closed their doors so as not to give away free products during the shutdown. The potentially costly tech snafu comes just one day after the Seattle-based global coffeehouse chain, which had 21,366 locations in 65 countries last year, posted record quarterly earnings with net revenues of $4.6billion. On Friday, Starbucks shares gained 4.4 pe rcent to $51.50 following the impressive quarterly results. Good news, bad news: The tech snafu comes just one day after the Seattle-based global coffeehouse chain, led by CEO Howard Schultz (pictured), posted record quarterly earnings with net revenues of $4.6billion .
target: Point-of-sale shutdown is effecting 8,000 Starbucks locations in US and Canada .
  Company said in statement glitch was caused by a failure during a daily system refresh .
  Glitch also affected Starbucks' Evolution Fresh and Teavana stores .
  Many Starbucks locations closed their doors so as not to give away free drinks .
  Coffeehouse chain said in update on its site stores are expected to open for 'business as usual' Saturday .