BLUE HILL – Plans are under way to fill an empty space on Main Street.

Peter Stremlau of Brooklin plans to open New Cargoes in the former Partridge Drug building on Main Street. The store has been empty since Rite Aid, which had leased the building, moved to its new location on South Street in 2000.

Stremlau has negotiated a lease with building owner Tom Perkins, a former state senator, and plans to begin renovations on the 2,800-square-foot building in March.

New Cargoes is “too small” to be a department store, “and the term ‘dry goods store’ has lost its meaning now,” Stremlau said in a recent interview.

“We’ll have something for everyone,” he said.

The store’s offerings will range from housewares, furniture, silverware and glassware to wallets, jewelry and toys. During the summer, he expects to offer caps and T-shirts geared to the tourist traffic through town.

The name of the store, he said, is derived from the word cargo and the town’s history. The dictionary defines cargo as any freight carried by ship or another vehicle, Stremlau said.

“That fits in with the history here of clipper ships,” he said. “We’ll be offering new cargo.”

Stremlau, who now works as an insurance and securities agent, is returning to retail business after a long absence. He worked in retail about 30 years ago, he said, and, when an opportunity presented itself in Blue Hill, he jumped at it.

“It’s really the opportunity that decided this,” Stremlau said. “It’s a difficult time to be a detached agent selling securities and insurance. As the Rite Aid lease was coming to an end, … it seemed like a very good opportunity to get back into retail.”

He won’t be going it alone. His wife and partner in this venture, Marcia, is the owner and operator of Handworks Gallery, just across Main Street in Blue Hill. She also spent 19 years as the manager of The Grasshopper Shop in Ellsworth. She will be involved in buying for the new store.

The renovation will be extensive on the inside of the building, Stremlau said, and will include removing the raised floor of the former pharmacy area in the back of the building to provide more floor space.

He plans to open the store in May this year and, initially, to operate on an April-December season. Stremlau said he would be open to having this become a year-round operation if that proves to be viable.