diff --git a/execute/allocator.go b/execute/allocator.go
index d176875a55..45f60b1d90 100644
--- a/execute/allocator.go
+++ b/execute/allocator.go
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 package execute
 
 import (
-	arrowmem "github.com/apache/arrow/go/v7/arrow/memory"
-
 	"github.com/influxdata/flux/memory"
 )
 
@@ -158,14 +156,17 @@ func (a *Allocator) GrowFloats(slice []float64, n int) []float64 {
 	return s
 }
 
-// Strings makes a slice of String values.
-func (a *Allocator) Strings(l, c int) []String {
+// Strings makes a slice of string values.
+// Only the string headers are accounted for.
+func (a *Allocator) Strings(l, c int) []string {
 	a.account(c, stringSize)
-	return make([]String, l, c)
+	return make([]string, l, c)
 }
 
-// AppendStrings appends Strings to a slice.
-func (a *Allocator) AppendStrings(slice []String, vs ...String) []String {
+// AppendStrings appends strings to a slice.
+// Only the string headers are accounted for.
+func (a *Allocator) AppendStrings(slice []string, vs ...string) []string {
+	// TODO(nathanielc): Account for actual size of strings
 	if cap(slice)-len(slice) >= len(vs) {
 		return append(slice, vs...)
 	}
@@ -175,14 +176,14 @@ func (a *Allocator) AppendStrings(slice []String, vs ...String) []String {
 	return s
 }
 
-func (a *Allocator) GrowStrings(slice []String, n int) []String {
+func (a *Allocator) GrowStrings(slice []string, n int) []string {
 	newCap := len(slice) + n
 	if newCap < cap(slice) {
 		return slice[:newCap]
 	}
 	// grow capacity same way as built-in append
 	newCap = newCap*3/2 + 1
-	s := make([]String, len(slice)+n, newCap)
+	s := make([]string, len(slice)+n, newCap)
 	copy(s, slice)
 	diff := cap(s) - cap(slice)
 	a.account(diff, stringSize)
@@ -219,13 +220,3 @@ func (a *Allocator) GrowTimes(slice []Time, n int) []Time {
 	a.account(diff, timeSize)
 	return s
 }
-
-// String represents a string stored in some backing byte slice.
-type String struct {
-	offset int
-	len    int
-}
-
-func (s String) Bytes(buf *arrowmem.Buffer) []byte {
-	return buf.Bytes()[s.offset : s.offset+s.len]
-}
diff --git a/execute/table.go b/execute/table.go
index 9d0c93c1ab..82a0886981 100644
--- a/execute/table.go
+++ b/execute/table.go
@@ -1,14 +1,11 @@
 package execute
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"sort"
 	"sync/atomic"
 
-	arrowmem "github.com/apache/arrow/go/v7/arrow/memory"
 	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
-
 	"github.com/influxdata/flux"
 	"github.com/influxdata/flux/array"
 	"github.com/influxdata/flux/arrow"
@@ -298,9 +295,8 @@ func TablesEqual(left, right flux.Table, alloc memory.Allocator) (bool, error) {
 				eq = cmp.Equal(leftBuffer.cols[j].(*floatColumnBuilder).data,
 					rightBuffer.cols[j].(*floatColumnBuilder).data)
 			case flux.TString:
-				eq = cmp.Equal(leftBuffer.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder),
-					rightBuffer.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder),
-					cmp.Comparer(stringColumnBuilderEqual))
+				eq = cmp.Equal(leftBuffer.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder).data,
+					rightBuffer.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder).data)
 			case flux.TTime:
 				eq = cmp.Equal(leftBuffer.cols[j].(*timeColumnBuilder).data,
 					rightBuffer.cols[j].(*timeColumnBuilder).data)
@@ -328,27 +324,6 @@ func colsMatch(left, right []flux.ColMeta) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
-func stringColumnBuilderEqual(x, y *stringColumnBuilder) bool {
-	if x.Len() != y.Len() {
-		return false
-	}
-	for i := 0; i < x.Len(); i++ {
-		if x.IsNil(i) {
-			if !y.IsNil(i) {
-				return false
-			}
-			continue
-		}
-		if y.IsNil(i) {
-			return false
-		}
-		if !bytes.Equal(x.data[i].Bytes(x.buf), y.data[i].Bytes(y.buf)) {
-			return false
-		}
-	}
-	return true
-}
-
 // ColMap writes a mapping of builder index to cols index into colMap.
 // When colMap does not have enough capacity a new colMap is allocated.
 // The colMap is always returned
@@ -623,7 +598,6 @@ func (b *ColListTableBuilder) AddCol(c flux.ColMeta) (int, error) {
 	case flux.TString:
 		b.cols = append(b.cols, &stringColumnBuilder{
 			columnBuilderBase: colBase,
-			buf:               arrowmem.NewResizableBuffer(b.alloc.Allocator),
 		})
 		if b.NRows() > 0 {
 			if err := b.GrowStrings(newIdx, b.NRows()); err != nil {
@@ -945,9 +919,8 @@ func (b *ColListTableBuilder) SetString(i int, j int, value string) error {
 	if err := b.checkCol(j, flux.TString); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	col := b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder)
-	col.data[i] = col.makeString(value)
-	col.SetNil(i, false)
+	b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder).data[i] = value
+	b.cols[j].SetNil(i, false)
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -956,7 +929,7 @@ func (b *ColListTableBuilder) AppendString(j int, value string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	col := b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder)
-	col.data = b.alloc.AppendStrings(col.data, col.makeString(value))
+	col.data = b.alloc.AppendStrings(col.data, value)
 	b.nrows = len(col.data)
 	return nil
 }
@@ -1179,6 +1152,11 @@ func (b *ColListTableBuilder) Floats(j int) []float64 {
 	CheckColType(b.colMeta[j], flux.TFloat)
 	return b.cols[j].(*floatColumnBuilder).data
 }
+func (b *ColListTableBuilder) Strings(j int) []string {
+	meta := b.colMeta[j]
+	CheckColType(meta, flux.TString)
+	return b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder).data
+}
 func (b *ColListTableBuilder) Times(j int) []values.Time {
 	CheckColType(b.colMeta[j], flux.TTime)
 	return b.cols[j].(*timeColumnBuilder).data
@@ -1202,9 +1180,7 @@ func (b *ColListTableBuilder) GetRow(row int) values.Object {
 				case flux.TFloat:
 					val = values.NewFloat(b.cols[j].(*floatColumnBuilder).data[row])
 				case flux.TString:
-					// TODO(mhilton): avoid a copy
-					col := b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder)
-					val = values.NewString(string(col.data[row].Bytes(col.buf)))
+					val = values.NewString(b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder).data[row])
 				case flux.TTime:
 					val = values.NewTime(b.cols[j].(*timeColumnBuilder).data[row])
 				}
@@ -1890,38 +1866,46 @@ func (c *stringColumn) Copy() column {
 
 type stringColumnBuilder struct {
 	columnBuilderBase
-	data []String
-
-	// buf contains a backing buffer containing the bytes of the
-	// strings.
-	buf *arrowmem.Buffer
+	data []string
 }
 
 func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Clear() {
-	c.buf.Release()
-	c.buf = arrowmem.NewResizableBuffer(c.alloc.Allocator)
-	c.data = c.data[:0]
+	c.data = c.data[0:0]
 }
 
 func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Release() {
-	c.buf.Release()
 	c.alloc.Free(cap(c.data), stringSize)
+	c.data = nil
 }
 
 func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Copy() column {
-	builder := arrow.NewStringBuilder(c.alloc.Allocator)
-	builder.Reserve(len(c.data))
-	builder.ReserveData(c.buf.Len())
-	for i, v := range c.data {
-		if c.nils[i] {
-			builder.AppendNull()
-			continue
+	var data *array.String
+	if len(c.nils) > 0 {
+		b := arrow.NewStringBuilder(c.alloc.Allocator)
+		b.Reserve(len(c.data))
+		sz := 0
+		for i, v := range c.data {
+			if c.nils[i] {
+				continue
+			}
+			sz += len(v)
 		}
-		builder.AppendBytes(v.Bytes(c.buf))
+		b.ReserveData(sz)
+		for i, v := range c.data {
+			if c.nils[i] {
+				b.AppendNull()
+				continue
+			}
+			b.Append(v)
+		}
+		data = b.NewStringArray()
+		b.Release()
+	} else {
+		data = arrow.NewString(c.data, c.alloc.Allocator)
 	}
 	col := &stringColumn{
 		ColMeta: c.ColMeta,
-		data:    builder.NewStringArray(),
+		data:    data,
 	}
 	return col
 }
@@ -1932,13 +1916,13 @@ func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Len() int {
 
 func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Equal(i, j int) bool {
 	return c.EqualFunc(i, j, func(i, j int) bool {
-		return bytes.Equal(c.data[i].Bytes(c.buf), c.data[j].Bytes(c.buf))
+		return c.data[i] == c.data[j]
 	})
 }
 
 func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Less(i, j int) bool {
 	return c.LessFunc(i, j, func(i, j int) bool {
-		return bytes.Compare(c.data[i].Bytes(c.buf), c.data[j].Bytes(c.buf)) < 0
+		return c.data[i] < c.data[j]
 	})
 }
 
@@ -1947,16 +1931,6 @@ func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Swap(i, j int) {
 	c.data[i], c.data[j] = c.data[j], c.data[i]
 }
 
-func (c *stringColumnBuilder) makeString(s string) String {
-	offset := c.buf.Len()
-	c.buf.Resize(offset + len(s))
-	copy(c.buf.Bytes()[offset:], s)
-	return String{
-		offset: offset,
-		len:    len(s),
-	}
-}
-
 type timeColumn struct {
 	flux.ColMeta
 	data *array.Int
diff --git a/execute/table_test.go b/execute/table_test.go
index 9996acdc5e..8311d0b05a 100644
--- a/execute/table_test.go
+++ b/execute/table_test.go
@@ -148,58 +148,6 @@ func TestTablesEqual(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			want: false,
 		},
-		{
-			name: "string values",
-			data0: &executetest.Table{
-				ColMeta: []flux.ColMeta{
-					{Label: "_time", Type: flux.TTime},
-					{Label: "_value", Type: flux.TString},
-				},
-				Data: [][]interface{}{
-					{execute.Time(1), "1"},
-					{execute.Time(2), "2"},
-					{execute.Time(3), "3"},
-				},
-			},
-			data1: &executetest.Table{
-				ColMeta: []flux.ColMeta{
-					{Label: "_time", Type: flux.TTime},
-					{Label: "_value", Type: flux.TString},
-				},
-				Data: [][]interface{}{
-					{execute.Time(1), "1"},
-					{execute.Time(2), "2"},
-					{execute.Time(3), "3"},
-				},
-			},
-			want: true,
-		},
-		{
-			name: "string mismatch",
-			data0: &executetest.Table{
-				ColMeta: []flux.ColMeta{
-					{Label: "_time", Type: flux.TTime},
-					{Label: "_value", Type: flux.TString},
-				},
-				Data: [][]interface{}{
-					{execute.Time(1), "1"},
-					{execute.Time(2), "2"},
-					{execute.Time(3), "3"},
-				},
-			},
-			data1: &executetest.Table{
-				ColMeta: []flux.ColMeta{
-					{Label: "_time", Type: flux.TTime},
-					{Label: "_value", Type: flux.TString},
-				},
-				Data: [][]interface{}{
-					{execute.Time(1), "1"},
-					{execute.Time(2), "2"},
-					{execute.Time(3), "4"},
-				},
-			},
-			want: false,
-		},
 	}
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		tc := tc