Gourlay's Sweet Shop owner Anita Wood said the holiday gave the business a good excuse to come up with fresh ideas for their sweet-toothed customers.

``My husband and I have been running the business since 1999 and we've been doing the eggs for probably five years now,'' Mrs Wood said.

``You'll find people will come in and have a look, but many of them won't buy anything until the Wednesday or Thursday.''

She said the rush would see an additional five staff rostered on in their Quadrant Mall shop.

``We try to make some new things each year,'' Mrs Wood said.

``The rocky road and Turkish delight eggs have done well, bilbies have been popular this year too.''

Once the chocolate is heated to the right temperature, she said it was then spun and cooled inside an acrylic mould to create an even coating at their Paterson Street studio.

``A lot of people can't have chocolate anymore, so we make these,'' Mrs Wood said, picking a painted egg from a desktop basket.

``These are tin, they've got little mints inside, so people who can't eat chocolate can still have an egg.''

Easter bunnies in Christian symbolism are believed to stem back to the Germanic pagan goddess Eostre, who was associated with rabbits or hares.