WILMINGTON, N.C. — The coast is known to draw tourists who enjoy spending their days at the sunny beaches, but the film industry has also been attracting visitors to the area for years.

The first production came to Wilmington in 1983 and from there it grew into a booming location for both TV shows and movies. The productions helped the local economy directly while filming, but business owners say the residual effects are where the payoff really is.

“We had tons of set directors who would come in here and they would spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars,” says John Hirchak, the vice president of the Black Cat Shoppe in Wilmington. “Not just here, but every store downtown.”

Fans of some of the most popular shows that were filmed in Wilmington, like One Tree Hill and Dawson's Creek, continue to plan trips to the city specifically to see the locations from the shows. Both of these productions used real places throughout Wilmington as the settings for the shows, which allows tourists to check out the restaurants, stores, and houses their favorite characters used to visit.

“I love when I'm watching a movie. I don't care what movie it is. I don't care how bad it was painted by critics. I only see the quality in it especially because it's Wilmington,” Hirchak says.

He is just one business owner who has noticed the people visiting his store are deliberately making it a stop on their trip because the film industry made it popular. Before it became the famous record store in One Tree Hill, his shop was often overshadowed by other popular destinations.

“We are getting people year in, year out who are faithful, who come to this area,” Hirchak says. “They spend two nights here, three days. They get a hotel room. They rent a car. They go to all these different restaurants and eat. They buy a whole bunch of souvenirs. They go visit all these places and take photos and why -- because of Dawson's Creek, because of One Tree Hill because maybe one of their favorite movies was filmed here.”

Because of her love for One Tree Hill, Yvette Gutierrez and her family made Wilmington part of their travel plans when they visited the state. As soon as she found out that she could go to the exact locations the show was filmed at, she knew she would be paying a visit.

“You're watching, and it's like fantasy,” Gutierrez says. “Oh, this isn't real obviously. But then you actually step into it, and you're like, this is a real place. These are real people.”

She says it was everything she imagined and more to be able to get one step closer to the magic of film production. She hopes to visit Wilmington again one day and go to more places where One Tree Hill was filmed but also see the sites the rest of the city has to offer.

“I would definitely, absolutely love to go back and just visit Wilmington and not just the set, but the city as a whole because it's a beautiful place,” Gutierrez says.