Woman upset after noticing Starbucks in Toronto charge different prices for same drink

A Toronto woman was upset after she was charged extra for her Starbucks order at a particular location compared to others. 

Jannet Krissilas always gets a short vanilla cappuccino after work from the Starbucks location at Monarch Park and Danforth. 

Sometimes, she orders up to three times a week, where the total always comes to $4.90, including tax. 

This past week, Krissilas was doing some grocery shopping and decided to stop in to the Starbucks at Lake Shore and Leslie. 

Krissilas tells blogTO she had her $5.00 ready to pay for her coffee, when she was suprised to find the total came to $5.25. 

She double-checked with the barista, who showed her the order on screen, which was punched in correctly, but still totalled to a higher price. 

Krissilas says she wondered whether there was a price hike that she didn't know about.

Over the next few days, Krissilas visited her regular Starbucks location near Monarch Park, as well as, stopping into the store at Queen and Logan. 

Both stores had the same price of $4.90, which prompted Krissilas to return to the Leslie location and show them the difference in her reciepts. 

"I asked them if they knew that they were charging people higher prices than anywhere else in the area," said Krissilas. 

A staff member informed her that the prices are more expensive at the Leslie location because they were considered to be a high volume store. 

Starbucks Canada tells blogTO they've never heard of high volume stores, saying pricing can be affected by a series of variables, depending on the location. 

"There are many factors that contribute to pricing, including various operating and occupancy expenses for example: labour, rent, equipment, distribution , and commodities – including coffee," said a spokesperson for Starbucks Canada. 

blogTO spoke with the Starbucks store at Leslie and Lakeshore, who said they have no comment to make on the matter. 

"Like what do you get off charging people more money for the exact same drink?" said Krissilas. 

It's not clear as to how this relates to prices being more expensive, however when Krissilas questioned the price hike, the staff member at Leslie and Lake Shore responded with "capitalism". 

Krissilas says although it's only a small price hike, it irritates her to think that they might be charging people more money because the location is a lot busier.