THE Christmas leftovers have barely been finished in many Far Northern homes, but Easter eggs are already appearing on Cairns supermarket shelves.

Shoppers, parents and religious leaders say it’s too early to be cashing in on Easter, but retailers claim they are catering to customers’ demands.

Cairns Central’s Target store boasts one of the biggest January Easter ranges, tempting shoppers with Freddo Frog gift packs, Cadbury bunnies and eggs.

Bi-Lo yesterday had five varieties of hot cross buns on offer, Woolworths housed an Easter display and Coles had stacks of "Happy Easter" boxes, filled with bags of eggs, by its service desk.

The reverend Elisabeth Daniels, from St Peter’s church at Kewarra Beach, was among religious leaders critical of the stores wheeling out Easter products so early.

"It’s dreadful," she said. "It just seems that the whole significance of it all is lost."

Shoppers yesterday labelled the Easter offerings "ridiculous", "disgusting" and "too early".

"I think it’s stupid," White Rock resident Aleicha McKeown said.

"It’s almost like Christmas in July," said her friend Jessica Allen.

Mother-of-two Nicola Maxwell, a co-ordinator at playgroup Bella Vista Bambinos, said eggs on shelves "will cause some parents a lot of grief".

"We were shopping today and my five-year-old started saying ‘Mum, is the Easter bunny coming already?’… and now all we are going to hear is ‘When is the Easter bunny coming?’," she said. "It also takes the magic out of it a little bit because there’s no real build-up.

"It’s like Christmas is over, and now it’s Easter."

Woolworths spokesman Benedict Brook said there was a strong demand for small eggs, and hot cross buns were "selling like hotcakes", but gift packs and larger eggs would not be available until mid-February.

Target national merch-andise manager, Steven Williamson, said demand for Easter products started "as soon as the new year commences".

"As we are in the business of retail we need to meet this customer demand," he said.

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