A system and method of query processing in a multi-level storage system having a unified table architecture. A query is received by a common query execution engine connected with the unified table architecture, the query specifying a data record. The common query execution engine performs a look-up for the data record based on the query at the first level storage structure. If the data record is not present at the first level storage structure, the common query execution engine performs separate look-ups in each of the second level storage structure and the main store.