Starbucks to shut down for 3.5 hours today

Starbucks was to shut down all of its 7,100 company-owned stores in the U.S. for three and a half hours today to train its 135,000 employees.

Chris Vamvakis, a customer of the Starbucks in Boardman, said he was happy to give up his daily evening visit for the good of the company.

“It think it’s good. If they can make the product better and refine it, that’s better for the consumer,” the 30-year-old Campbell man said.

Stores were to be closed from 5:30 to 9 p.m.

A manager at the Boardman store said she wasn’t allowed to speak to the press. A company spokeswoman told The Seattle Times, however, that employees were to be taught new standards for making drinks.

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Vindicator or www.vindy.com.