Tracy Bryant, right, and Roland Smith, center, Starbucks employees, watch as a manager Justin Chapple makes an espresso at a Starbucks in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008. Nearly 7,100 company-operated Starbucks stores across the U.S. , all except the licensed shops in supermarkets, airports, malls, hotels and the like, were to close at 5:30 p.m. local time so some 135,000 employees could go through about three hours of training.