Mrs Chalmers' salon, D'Or, has recently undergone an extreme make-over, planned for a year and completed in just seven days, which has seen it double in size, with its interior redecorated.
With the salon now boasting clean, white walls, French-finish flooring, white fittings and double the room for clients, Mrs Chalmers said the reaction had been phenomenal.
"They feel like they're in the middle of Auckland and I say 'no, we're just in the middle of A-Town'.
"It feels like we've always been here ... but it's not the same D'Or.
"D'Or, to me, is a person. We set these goals for her and then go about achieving them."
The businesswoman began her hairdressing career in Invercargill at the age of 17.
When her husband Gary, a builder, wanted to move to Arrowtown during the "boom time", she began working at The Hair Shed, in an area known as The Attic, inside the Coachman's Hall.
With young children, she worked part-time, before buying the business with friend Lisa Spark and re-naming it D'Or.
"We didn't have a huge local market ... When I first started [the hours were] 10am to 3pm, we had one late night a fortnight and worked five days a week."
Four years ago the salon moved across the road, behind the Royal Oak development in Arrow Lane, taking up residence in an intimate building and establishing a loyal local clientele.
"Now, we're open six days a week from 8.30am with two late nights a week.
"When I first started [with D'Or] it was just me [working].
"Now there are six staff and me."
Mrs Chalmers said she had a business mentor who had been working with her to achieve her business goals.
Even so, the expansion of the salon was not planned to happen as quickly as it had.
The fast-tracking had been partly because of a successful year for the business and its staff in 2009, when D'Or was awarded the Chamber of Commerce Small Business Award and senior stylist Ria ... was named the apprentice of the year.
"It was huge.
"The recognition, I would say, definitely [helped] and the self-belief for ourselves as a team - knowing that all of the things we've done have paid off.
"I have a business mentor ... but it wasn't planned to go like that. It was planned to go over time."
However, Mrs Chalmers was not finished with the business yet with "so much more" planned over the coming years.
First on her priority list though was working with her staff to achieve their goals.
"I want to encourage them to have their dreams come true ... That's what it's all about."
