Maricopa’s Big 5 Sporting Goods store, which has been open at 41800 W. Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway since January 2017, will close permanently Nov. 8.

“Rent” was the reason given by a store employee who asked not to be identified during an interview this morning.

“The rent increased significantly,” said the staffer.

The Maricopa store’s staff learned the news that the company was closing the store about three weeks ago.

The closure affects 15 employees who will be “absorbed” by other Big 5 stores, the source said.

“We’d love to find property in town but that’s for people who get paid a little more than I do,” the store employee said.

The staffer said the move out of the building constructed in 2016 should be complete by Thanksgiving.

Sources familiar with the building said it would become a school for children with autism and ADHD, but that could not be immediately confirmed.