product.rb

class Product < ActiveRecord::Base

  # our hstore column, make sure gem 'activerecord-postgres-hstore' is in your Gemfile
  # and you've run: rails g hstore:setup 
  serialize :data, ActiveRecord::Coders::Hstore

  # name is a string col
  attr_accessible :data, :name

  def self.search(query)
    where("name @@ :q or CAST(avals(data) AS text) @@ :q", q: query)
  end

end