Research

While we were in Las Vegas we had to purchase our morning coffee fix. The most convenient place was the Starbucks fronting Las Vegas Blvd. There were in fact 21 Starbucks shops from which to choose within three blocks of our room according to my wife's Google Maps search. Regardless, we stopped by the closest one each morning for our daily fix. I would normally have a mocha, but the calories were too much to consume at the end of a vacation and the cost was more than I am used to paying (welcome to Las Vegas) so I stuck with Pike Place Roast. The mocha cost did, however, pique my curiosity and I subsequently checked the price of a tall mocha at every Starbucks I encountered as we wandered the various casinos during our three day stay. I was shocked at the difference from one location to the next. The least expensive spot was our very own Starbucks ($4.95) but the price ranged all over the place topping out at $6.45. Even our hotel's second location, a stand on the upper mezzanine, was charging a $1 more for the exact same drink. We were attracted to our location by the outside seating, who knew it would turn out to be the cheapest one on The Strip.