Netflix TV series boosts popularity of film locations in Greater Victoria

Victoria -

The Netflix miniseries Maid is earning global praise – and it appears that seemingly ordinary Greater Victoria shooting locations are quickly becoming popular tourist attractions.

At Sassy's Family Restaurant in Brentwood Bay, staff are getting a lot of reservations for one table in particular.

"That's table three, in the sunroom," said Noel Eanzer, a server at Sassy's.

It's all because the table was featured in just a few seconds of screen time in the Netflix television series.

Sassy's is just one of 160 Greater Victoria location that Netflix filmed at.

The production was a boon for businesses, which were in the grips of one of B.C.'s COVID-19 lockdowns at the time.

"They hired out the entire restaurant and paid out the staff wages," said Eanzer.

Meanwhile, a strip mall in Saanich stood in as Value Maids, the company where main character, Alex, played by Margaret Qualley, gets her job.

Value Maids is actually Tillicum Laundry near Hampton Park.

Tillicum Laundry is shown: (CTV News)

Other shooting locations include downtown Victoria, the Patricia Bay Highway, and an oceanfront mansion at Ten Mile Point.

"I watched the show in, I think, in 10 hours or something," said Katherine Gilbert of the Vancouver Island South Film and Media commission. "I just really couldn't turn it off."

Everybody and their dog is talking about the show. But amid the charm of its breathtaking and familiar scenery are subjects that can be hard to touch on.

The show focuses on a single mother who escapes from domestic abuse.

She ends up at a women's shelter, which was filmed at an apartment building in Esquimalt.

The apartment building in Esquimalt that stood in as a women's shelter in the Netflix series is shown: (CTV News)

The unit that the character lives in with her daughter, Maddy – played by young Victoria resident, Rylea Niveah Whittet – is unit 23.

The woman who lives in that unit is named Piper, and she say she's a fan of the show.

"I cried at some points," she told CTV News. "I've seen it probably three times through."

The show also employed locals for its cast and crew, including one woman who was formerly homeless, who was hired on as an extra then later offered an acting contract.