following the opening of nearby landover mall in the 1970s, capital plaza began a long, slow decline. the plaza grounds also served as the local home of the universoul circus, in hopes of attracting more customers to the mall. between 1999 and 2000, the parent companies for the mall's two anchor stores, hechinger and montgomery ward, both filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. in the end, both retailers closed over 100 of their retail stores including the ones at capital plaza mall by the end of 2000. by 2005, nearly all of the mall's smaller tenants closed and moved out of the location. this resulted in the closure of the mall by its owner nellis corporation.