ELLSWORTH – A local eatery recently sold to a local sporting goods store soon may have a new owner.

Cadillac Mountain Sports recently purchased Frankie’s Cafe and Good Stuff from longtime owners Eric and Rosemary Foreman of Blue Hill. The sporting goods company, which has a store next to the High Street cafe, bought the eatery so it can expand into the adjacent space in 2006.

The company, however, has been looking for someone who will buy Frankie’s and move it to a new location by the end of next year. If the business is bought, the new owner will be offered a lease for its current location through the end of 2005, company officials have said.

Kelly Cochrane, marketing manager for Cadillac Mountain Sports, said Wednesday that Frankie’s does not yet have a buyer but that it may have one in the coming weeks.

“There are a couple [of serious candidates] who have been interested,” she said. “We’re moving quickly so Frankie’s isn’t closed at all or for long.”

The Foremans have operated the business for 17 years, selling vegetarian dishes, deli-style sandwiches, coffee and baked goods as well as baskets, musical compact discs, mugs, books, lamps, kitchenware and other similar items. The increasing demands of the business and a planned road widening project that will reduce the amount of available parking outside the building prompted the Foremans to start thinking about selling the cafe before Cadillac Mountain Sports approached them earlier this year with an offer, Eric Foreman has said.

The Foremans agreed to operate the business through the end of the year but unless a new owner is found soon, the business will have to close until a new owner can open it again.

Cadillac Mountain Sports publicly has offered to sell the business for $29,000.