Connecticut

Norwich Big Lots store among nine closing in CT: What customers had to say about it

Published

1 year ago

August 7, 2024

Norwich Big Lots store among nine closing in CT: What customers had to say about it

When the Norwich Big Lots closes, local shoppers will have to rethink their plans.

The discount retailer recently announced the closure 293 stores across the country. The Norwich one is one of nine closing in Connecticut. The company cited declining sales as the reason for the closure, according to USA Today.

There will be seven locations remaining in Connecticut, with the locations at 940 Silver Lane in East Hartford and 820 Washington St. in Middletown being the closest to the Norwich area. Out of state, the closest remaining locations are 116 E. Main St., Webster, Massachusetts, and 217 S. Main St., Warwick, Rhode Island.

Plenty of regular customers were at the Norwich Big Lots Tuesday afternoon to get their shopping done. While the store still had plenty of items in stock, from everyday goods to fall and Halloween decorations, store signs reminded customers that all sales are final, and that the store wouldn’t take checks.

The staff are kind

Killingly resident Gail Erskine heard about the closing a couple weeks ago. Patty Erskine, Gail Erskine’s sister, said they’ve been shopping at the Norwich Big Lots for a couple years,” whenever we come down to Norwich.” The store has good deals on plenty of things, including the drinks Gail Erskine likes.

“The staff in there are sweet,” Patty Erskine said, “I feel bad for them closing.”

Gail Erskine hopes another good store can fill the void left in the Norwichtown Commons, and that the employees can find jobs, “especially in this economy.”

“I’d be a little depressed at first with losing a job, but my fingers are crossed that they can find a job,” she said.

Bob’s Stores closing all locations in Connecticut, begins clearance sale. What to know

“Can they reconsider?”

Salem resident Jessi Crisman visits the Big Lots weekly because of a good variety with good prices. Crisman and her mother Sunny Crisman are both upset about the Norwich store closing, as “it’s a one-stop shop,” Crisman said.

Online shopping services, including Amazon and Temu, are hurting retail, Sunny Crisman said.

“Everything’s closing, between the banks and the grocery stores; look at Crystal Mall for goodness sake,” she said.

Crisman made the most of the store closing sale, as she loaded her car with plenty of things, including a large pink pillow.

“We just spent a lot of money; can they reconsider when they cash out tonight?” Sunny Crisman said.

Family shopping trip

Voluntown resident Erica Tefft went shopping with her four children on Tuesday. She visits the store a few times a month. While Tefft likes her gardening supplies, it’s a pastime for the family to “find what we find” at the store.

“I’m sad that its closing,” she said. “I didn’t even know until we just pulled in.”

The closest thing to Big Lots Tefft could think of in the area is the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet in Waterford.

“That store is pretty fun too,” she said.

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Connecticut

State police investigating suspicious incident in Burlington

Published

7 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

State police investigating suspicious incident in Burlington

BURLINGTON, Conn. (WFSB) – Connecticut State Police are investigating a suspicious incident at a residence on Case Road in Burlington.

Multiple state troopers and police vehicles were seen at the home conducting an investigation. A viewer reported seeing nine police cars and numerous troopers at the scene.

State police said there is no threat to the public at this time. The investigation is ongoing.

No additional details about the nature of the suspicious incident have been released.

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Connecticut

Ecuadorian national with manslaughter conviction sentenced for illegally reentering United States through Connecticut

Published

19 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Ecuadorian national with manslaughter conviction sentenced for illegally reentering United States through Connecticut

NEW HAVEN, CT. (WFSB) – An Ecuadorian national with a manslaughter conviction was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for illegally reentering the United States through Connecticut after being deported.

40-year-old Darwin Francisco Quituizaca-Duchitanga was sentenced and had used the aliases Darwin Duchitanga-Quituizaca and Juan Mendez-Gutierrez.

U.S. Border Patrol first encountered Quituizaca in December 2003, when he used the alias Juan Mendez-Gutierrez and claimed to be a Mexican citizen. He was issued a voluntary return to Mexico.

Connecticut State Police arrested him in March 2018 on charges related to a fatal crash on I-91 in North Haven in March 2017. He was using the alias Darwin Duchitanga-Quituizaca at the time.

ICE arrested him on an administrative warrant in Meriden in August 2018 while he was awaiting trial in his state case. An immigration judge ordered his removal to Ecuador in September 2018, but he was transferred to state custody to face pending charges.

Quituizaca was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in January 2019 and sentenced to 30 months in prison.

After his release, ICE arrested him again on an administrative warrant in Meriden in August 2023. He was removed to Ecuador the next month.

ICE arrested Quituizaca again on a warrant in Meriden on June 28th, 2025, after he illegally reentered the United States. He pleaded guilty to unlawful reentry on July 30th.

He has been detained since his arrest. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated the case.

The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat illegal immigration and transnational criminal organizations.

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Connecticut

Justice Department sues Connecticut and Arizona as part of effort to get voter data from the states

Published

1 day ago

January 7, 2026

Press Room

Justice Department sues Connecticut and Arizona as part of effort to get voter data from the states

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Officials in Connecticut and Arizona are defending their decision to refuse a request by the U.S. Justice Department for detailed voter information, after their states became the latest to face federal lawsuits over the issue.

“Pound sand,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes posted on X, saying the release of the voter records would violate state and federal law.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced this week it was suing Connecticut and Arizona for failing to comply with its requests, bringing to 23 the number of states the department has sued to obtain the data. It also has filed suit against the District of Columbia.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the department will “continue filing lawsuits to protect American elections,” saying accurate voter rolls are the ”foundation of election integrity.”

Secretaries of state and state attorneys general who have pushed back against the effort say it violates federal privacy law, which protects the sharing of individual data with the government, and would run afoul of their own state laws that restrict what voter information can be released publicly. Some of the data the Justice Department is seeking includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

Other requests included basic questions about the procedures states use to comply with federal voting laws, while some have been more state-specific. They have referenced perceived inconsistencies from a survey from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Most of the lawsuits target states led by Democrats, who have said they have been unable to get a firm answer about why the Justice Department wants the information and how it plans to use it. Last fall, 10 Democratic secretaries of state sent a letter to the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security expressing concern after DHS said it had received voter data and would enter it into a federal program used to verify citizenship status.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, said his state had tried to “work cooperatively” with the Justice Department to understand the basis for its request for voters’ personal information.

“Rather than communicating productively with us, they rushed to sue,” Tong said Tuesday, after the lawsuit was filed.

Connecticut, he said, “takes its obligations under federal laws very seriously.” He pledged to “vigorously defend the state against this meritless and deeply disappointing lawsuit.”

Two Republican state senators in Connecticut said they welcomed the federal lawsuit. They said a recent absentee ballot scandal in the state’s largest city, Bridgeport, had made the state a “national punchline.”

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