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NEWPORT BEACH — Richard Bredice can feel the slowdown in the U.S. economy this year from his Christmas tree lot on Jamboree Road.

The manager of Christmas Tree Jamboree usually sells all his trees a week or so before the holiday, especially with his lot positioned in one of Orange County’s wealthiest residential areas.

Thursday, though, Bredice still had about 130 trees left — and although he said customers were buying about 30 trees a day, he expected to keep up shop through Sunday.

“Some years, you have to stay longer than other years,” Bredice said. “This year is going to be longer.”

Around Newport-Mesa, a number of Christmas tree lot owners are facing slow business as a dry economic year draws to a close. The lots should be up and running through Sunday or even Christmas Eve — meaning that last-minute tree buyers won’t have to drive too far to locate one.

Christmas Tree Jamboree, located near the intersection of Jamboree Road and Back Bay Drive, has trees ranging from $24.95 to $129.95. The tallest trees on the lot, which stood at 14 feet and went for $269.95, have sold out.

The Noonan’s Christmas tree lot on the Westside also had plenty of trees left last week — so much that owner Doug Noonan said he expected to still have trees late Christmas Eve. Some people, he said, liked to follow the traditional route and decorate their tree at the last minute.

“It started out decent, but the last couple of weeks it’s been real slow,” said Noonan, who took over the family business that his late father started in 1944. “Money’s been tight. I think people are just watching their money.”

Prices at Noonan’s range from $16.95 for a short tabletop tree to $300 for a 14-footer, although Noonan said the tallest ones had sold out by Thursday. The most expensive ones remaining were around 11 feet and cost $180. The lot resides at the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Bay Street in Costa Mesa.

Nearby, the lot at Home Depot on Harbor Boulevard was down to its last few hundred trees.

Lot supervisor Matt Ohrberg said any of the Oregon-grown trees not sold by the end of the month would be shipped back and turned into mulch, but then, Home Depot had always sold out its lot in the years he had worked there.

“If we sell what we’re sitting on now, we’ll have sold almost 8,000 trees,” Ohrberg said.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.