Capital Plaza Mall

Capital Plaza

The Capital Plaza sign as seen from MD 450.
Location	6200 Annapolis Road in Landover Hills, MD 20784
Opening date	1963
Closing date	2005
Owner	Nellis Corporation
No. of anchor tenants	2
Total retail floor area	491,650 square feet (46,000 m2)
No. of floors	1

Capital Plaza Mall (the region now known as simply Capital Plaza) was a shopping mall located at the intersection of Annapolis Road (Maryland Route 450) and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway in Landover Hills, Maryland. It was built between 1961 and 1963, as a regional shopping center to serve the Bladensburg and Landover area of suburban Washington, D.C. The mall was a major attraction in Prince George's County, until its slow decline that began in the 1970s. This continued until the mall's closure in 2005, and ultimately its demolition in 2007. Part of the grounds are now occupied by a Wal-Mart store.

The opening day festivities on August 7, 1963, were themed by the popular movie Around the World in 80 Days, and featured representatives from a dozen foreign countries, including Miss Universe Ieda Maria Vargas of Brazil. Maryland Governor J. Millard Tawes officiated the grand opening. The $11 million shopping center originally consisted of 45 stores, which included branches of S.S. Kresge, Kroger, People's Drug Store, Thom McAn Shoes, Lerner's, and a Hot Shoppes drive-in restaurant. The complex also included a movie theater and a professional building. The two anchor stores that were the mall's major attractions were Montgomery Ward and the later Bradlees, which opened and operated briefly in 1982 as Memco until it became a branch of the Washington, D.C. based home improvement Hechinger retail stores.