In some industries the type of goods or services sold or the type of
purchaser of goods or services are determining factors in whether a sale
or service is recognized as retail in the particular industry. In other
industries a sale or service may be recognized as retail regardless of
the type of goods or services sold or the type of customer. Where a sale
is recognized as retail regardless of the type of customer, its
character as such will not be affected by the character of the customer,
with reference to whether he is a private individual or a business
concern, or by the use the purchaser makes of the purchased commodity.
For example, if the sale of a single automobile to anyone for any
purpose is recognized as a retail sale in the industry, it will be
considered as a retail sale for purposes of the exemption whether the
customer be a private individual or an industrial concern or whether the
automobile is used by the purchaser for pleasure purposes or for
business purposes. If a sale of a particular quantity of coal is
recognized in the industry as a retail sale, its character as such will
not be affected by the fact that it is sold for the purpose of heating
an office building as distinguished from a private dwelling. If the
repair of a wash basin is recognized in the industry as a retail
service, its character as such will not be affected by the fact that it
is a wash basin in a factory building as distinguished from a wash basin
in a private dwelling house. It must be remembered that these principles
apply only to those sales of goods or services which have a retail
concept, that is, where the subject matter is ``retailable.'' See
Sec. 779.321. The ``industry-recognition'' question as to whether such
sales are recognized as retail in the industry has no relevancy if in
fact the goods and services sold are not of a ``retailable'' character,
as previously explained. If the subject of the sale does not come within
the concept of retailable items contemplated by the statute, there can
be no recognition in any industry of
the sale of the goods or services as retail, for purposes of the Act,
even though the nomenclature used by the industry members may put a
retail label on the transaction. (See Wirtz v. Steepleton General Tire
Co., 383 U.S. 190; Mitchell v. Kentucky Finance Co., 359 U.S. 290.)