Target blamed the outage on an "internal technology issue" in a news release, assuring customers that it "was not a data breach or security-related issue, and no guest information was compromised at any time."
"We appreciate all of our store team members who worked quickly to assist guests and thank everyone involved for their patience," the Minneapolis-based retailer added.
The outage appears to have begun around 2 p.m. ET, according to customer tweets on social media. Some customers said the outage was impacting all cash registers in the store, but others said some locations still had one or two open registers.
Target shoppers report widespread register outage, long lines
Many customers who decided to wait out the outage said Target employees were handing out free drinks, snacks and coupons until the issue was resolved. Several customers took to Twitter, where #TargetDown began to trend, to thank the store for how employees handled the situation.