The Hudson's Bay Co. says it will close most of its 64 remaining Zellers stores in Canada that aren't being converted to Target stores.

Those stores employ 6,400 people.

While no date has been given for the closures, Hudson Bay says in an email to the French service of The Canadian Press the stores won't be open beyond next March.

A Hudson's Bay Co. spokeswoman said each of the affected Zellers stores has about 100 employees and the stores aren't considered viable.

But the Hudson's Bay spokeswoman says the company hasn't ruled out the possibility of maintaining some of the store locations and opening them under another retail banner.