Is Manny's Music owned by Sam Ash?

A few years back, I had heard that Sam Ash was getting ready to close shop, nationally. Guitar Centers were springing up everywhere, and with their better deals and no-pressure sales philosophy, they seemed to be nudging the old giant out of the doomed market of Instrument Superstores (buy a warehouse, design a snazzy looking website, cut costs considerably-- you don't need a megastore to sell a Squire Strat). And so when I came across this site, which claims Sam Ash as the recent owner of Manny's Music in Manhattan, it came as a bit of a shock-- my understanding was that Sam Ash was not in a financial position to buy anything, much less their neighbor on 48th Street. I started looking around for something to back the statement, and came across the following:

This site offers up a bit of Sam Ash history, most notably:

In August 1999, Sam Ash snapped up Manny's Music Store, a New York store which was touted as a "haven for musicians."

Kiss Online, in its discussion of the band's tour-issued drum sticks, says:

Note: Manny's Music is a well known musical instrument store in NYC, who incidentally are now owned by Sam Ash.

And this one, which talks about the Manny's West store Sam Ash recently opened in Hollywood.

On a side note, I stopped by a Guitar Center yesterday, tried to buy a pair of monitors and got no help whatsoever. At least at Sam Ash you can still play a "may I help you?" riff and get some service! Fortunately, there are other guitar and pro audio shops in town to choose from...