Coles supermarket staff are turning away customers due to a reported IT problem.
The problem at stores were first noticed just before 5pm, with some registers going down mid-transaction.
Coles at Wallsend was among those closed on Friday afternoon, with customers turned away.
A spokesperson said Coles was trying to resolve the issue, in a statement to media.
"Coles supermarkets are being closed temporarily due to a technical issue with processing payments in our stores," the spokesperson said.
"Our team is working hard to fix the issue and stores will reopen as soon as possible.
"We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience."
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