A system and method of storing data in an unstructured or semi-structured database, such as a JSON database, includes defining a columnar store, or hybrid column portion having a set of values for each field, such that each set stores a sequence of values from commonly named fields of each document together, and defining a hybrid store, or hybrid row portion having, for each document in the columnar store, a hybrid entry storing fields from the same document together, such that each entry in the hybrid store includes fields of a corresponding document represented in the columnar store. The hybrid arrangement provides that both the columnar store and the hybrid store are derived from the same set of documents, and each of the columnar store and the hybrid store are configured to fulfill a query request for determining whether to access the columnar store or the hybrid store.