Defining Eloquent model (will assume that DB table named is set as plural of class name and primary key named "id"):

class Shop extends Eloquent {}

Using custom table name

protected $table = 'my_shops';

Using custom primary key (instead of "id"):

protected $primaryKey = 'my_key';

Disabling use of "created_at" and "updated_at" columns:

public $timestamps = false;

Retrieving all records(rows) of a given model:

$shops = Shop::all();

Find and get a record by primary key:

$shop = Shop::find(1);

Retrieving single record that matches a certain column : $shop = Shop::where('name', 'Starbucks')->first();

Retrieving specific columns of the result (by default get() returns all columns): $shop = Shop::where('name', 'Starbucks')->get('name','address','url');

Retrieving singe column of single row : $name = Shop::where('name', 'Starbucks')->pluck('address');

Retrieving records matching a criteria:

$shops = Shop::where('orders_cache','>','100')->get(); where() takes 3 parameters, name of the column, operator and value to be compared against. The operator can be one of the following: '=', '<', '>', '<=', '>=', '<>', '!=', 'like', 'not like', 'between', 'ilike'

Retrieve only a specified number of records matching a criteria:

$shops = Shop::where('state', 'CA')->take(10)->get();

Skip a specified number of records:

$shops = Shops::where('name', 'Starbucks')->skip(10)->get();

Combining "skip" and "take" (useful for making custom paginators):

$shops = Shops::where('name', 'Starbucks')->skip(25)->take(25)->get();

Using forPage() to accomplish the above statement:

$shops = Shops::where('name', 'Starbucks')->forPage(2,25)->get();